Journey's End
by YAXON
Summary: Sequel to Season 5:Altered. 4 acquaintances of the Ruler come to Earth and they're out for revenge... and fun. The ending approaches. The Elementals have been beaten. But now far greater challenges arise. And the stakes surpass the Earth.
1. Chapter 1

** … Well. I got views for 'Season 5: Altered' at least… If anyone's interested this is a sequel of sorts. More OCs… Oh joy… Anyway, I'm bad at exploring character's pasts… I'm going to try to improve that in this Fic. A total of 4 OCs… It's a team, and they were acquaintances of the Ruler… **

Robin contacted the previous HIVE 5.

"SeeMore, the five of you need to deal with a bank robbery… The robber supposedly has super powers and he's causing a ruckus down there."

"Alright… As long it's just one."

"It is… Sending you the coordinates… now."

At the bank…

A huge ball of flame appeared and disintegrated the front doors of the bank into oblivion..

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

That's when the Titans arrived. They saw the young man walk out bags of money in both arms. The man's body looked about average: he looked like he was as strong as any normal human could be, he had a crimson red shirt on and light red pants. About the only abnormal thing about him was his hair: it was a wild mixture of red and yellow making it look like it was fire. The man finally noticed the Titans.

"Huh? I was expecting the Teen Titans… Not the Teen TWERPS. BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Gizmo blew a gasket and shook his fist at the man.

"HEY! WATCH IT… CRUD MUNCHIN'… PIT SNIFFIN'…"

"BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

SeeMore groaned.

"This guy's getting on my nerves… He laughs WAAAY too much… Hey Kyd, rough him up a bit will ya?"

Kyd Wykkyd nodded teleporting his arms over to the man. Kyd teleported the bags of money away. The man seemed surprised, but that was all.

"Huh?! How'd you…"

The man stopped in midsentence and glared at the 5 Heroes.

"I remember now… You five were villains originally. Here I thought you were new recruits or something… Whatever. Anyway, time to get this over with."

The man pointed his palm at the 5 Titans: a fireball soon appeared. As it got bigger the 5 Titans widened their eyes in shock.

"There's a reason they call me 'Phoenix'… Hasta la vista, bambinas!"

SeeMore glared at him.

"HEY!"

The 5 Titans scattered and dodged the humongous fireball that was shot at them. The man, known as Phoenix, frowned.

"Heeey… not bad. Let's dance, altogether now!"

Miniature fireballs appeared at his fingertips. They all enlarged and he shot them in all directions. The Titans dodged like crazy trying not to get burnt. Mammoth lunged at Phoenix and tackled him. Phoenix transformed his body into nothing but flames. Mammoth immediately leaped off trying to cool himself down while 'stopping, dropping, and rolling.' Phoenix turned back into his human form.

"Well, well, well… Never knew you had the guts to-"

Suddenly Phoenix was bombarded with explosive eye balls. Phoenix was sent flying into a nearby building and crashed through the wall. SeeMore's eye rolled back into place.

"Did we win?"

"… On the contrary."

A see of flames rushed out of the whole in the wall, it was aimed at SeeMore but Kyd Wykkyd teleported him out of the way. Phoenix leaped out of the hole.

"Nice try… What else you got?"

Gizmo shot what appeared to be 4 round balls. They surrounded Phoenix and opened up. They encompassed him; Phoenix was now in a cage made out of lasers created by the balls. Phoenix shrugged.

"Okay… Not bad."

Gizmo smirked.

"Give up?"

Phoenix shook his head.

"… No, I mean 'nice try'. But no dice."

Phoenix transformed his body into flames again and seeped through the cracks with his flames. His flames regrouped and formed into his body again. Phoenix cracked his knuckles.

"… Well. What's next? Numerous going to try to dog pile on me?"

Kyd Wykkyd smirked. Kyd teleported Phoenix away to elsewhere. Kyd came back still smirking. SeeMore scratched his head.

"Uhhh… Where'd he go? Kyd Wykkyd… Where'd you take him?!"

Kyd Wykkyd relayed a message in sign language.

'Somewhere wet…'

Elsewhere…

Phoenix was stuck in the middle of an ocean. Phoenix was using his arms and legs to swim in a random direction..

"Great… just great… I try and have fun and they go all serious on me…"

Phoenix sighed. Phoenix looked down at his reflection surprised, he didn't see himself. Rather it was another young man, this young man had tidy, jet black hair and gray eyes, only his face was showing, and he wasn't at Phoenix's location.

"Thine bad actions reflect badly upon us…"

"Awww… Merc… You never let me have ANY fun…"

"Thou should study an opponent first, not just boarishly rush into battle!"

Phoenix sighed.

"Listen… If we did that EVERY time we'd never get anywhere… You're always criticizing everyone else about how they do battle… If you just-"

"I doth not desire to listen to your excuses! Azor is on his way… Doth thou have a shadow nearby to which he may useth?"

Phoenix nodded.

"Yeah my own… DUH."

"… Very well… Next time we shalt not spareth you from your demise… This beeth your last chance."

"… *Grumble grumble grumble*"

"What was that? Doth thou wisheth for thine own demise?"

"… No…"

"No what?"

"NO MERC. I'M SORRY."

"That beeth better…"

Soon Phoenix felt himself being dragged through his own shadow…

**Excellent time for a cliffhanger… Review, tell me what you think… Thanks.**


	2. The Plan is Mentioned

**All 4 OCs are in this Chapter. Review.**

Phoenix woke up in a beanbag chair. He had lost consciousness when he was pulled into his own shadow…

_Does Azor ALWAYS have to make teleportation that creepy? _

Phoenix stood up and stretched. Yep, Azor was off in the corner observing his 'victim' as always. Azor was dressed like a sheriff, his hair was long and black and he had a knife in his hand. He was 'shaving' right now.

"Well, well, well… Looks like Sleeping Beauty's risen."

"Can it, Azor… Where IS everyone?"

"Calm down, pardner. Azula's in her room and Merc's in the briefing room."

"Why there?"

"He's finally got the guts… He's calling a strategic meeting to plan the assault on Jump City."

Phoenix crossed his arms.

"SERIOUSLY? I've GOT to see this…"

Azor stopped him.

"… Wait. You're supposed to get Azula and bring her to the briefing room."

"What?! What about…"

Too late. Azor was already gone. Phoenix frowned.

"… Coward."

When Phoenix arrived at Azula's room he heard music blaring.

_"I can't decide whether you should live or die… Oh you'll probably go to heaven, please don't hang your head and cry… No wonder why my heart feels dead inside: it's cold and hard and petrified! Lock the doors and close the blinds, we're going for a ride!"_

Phoenix frowned hearing the chorus for the song…

_That song again…? Azula, Azula, Azula…_

Phoenix knocked on the door rather loudly.

"Azula! Time for strategic meeting!"

The music turned off and Azula opened the door.

"What?"

Azula was still in her red battle armor. Her black hair was in a topknot. Phoenix repeated himself.

"I said 'time for strategic meeting'!"

Azula raised an eyebrow.

"What 'strategic meeting'? You know Merc will NEVER get the guts to do that… Besides: I'm the last resort, remember? My power?"

"I know… It's hard to control… But they sent me to come and get you. I know, I never thought that Merc would get down to this either… But supposedly he has now. We haven't had a 'meeting' in… how long?"

Azula looked thoughtful.

"Feels like it's been five years since we've all gathered together and talked strategy. Merc's always the one who takes so LONG to think through EVERY possibility."

They began to walk down the hall and turn right.

"I know… But that Merc is one fine, fine fighter… Have you seen him use his shields in combat? They're fierce!"

"… Whatever."

With Azor and Merc…

"Didst thou summon the ne'er-do-wells?"

"Don't get your knickers in a twist… 'Course I did, pardner. Just… I sent Phoenix to fetch Azula… ya know? That girl can be quite a handful to take care of…"

"Very well…"

Azor took out a water bottle and began to chug it. Merc frowned.

"They dare to mock me?!"

Merc was looking down to his shield. Now Merc looked like a normal human being; the only difference was the two shields attached to his wrists. They were rather big circular ones too, at least 5 feet in diameter. Merc was scowling now; he was eavesdropping on Phoenix's and Azula's conversation without their knowing. Azor smirked and shook his head.

"You gotta drop that habit pardner… Those shields can do just about anything… And they're not even gadgets! Whoever thought that creating humanoids with shields that their own body generates was a good idea was insane! You can do a LOT MORE than just eavesdrop on someone with those things… You can make the edges razor sharp, shoot laser beams from the front, they can block nearly anything… AND you can project your image to ANYWHERE in the world no matter how big or small the projection may be whether they be for eavesdropping purposes or not… You're the perfect soldier, pardner!"

Merc chuckled.

"I suppose that beeth true. Even the ne'er-do-wells concede that I am a 'fierce fighter'. And if thou think that that beeth all, you will be in for a surprise… For I can do much, much more! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

As soon as Azula and Phoenix entered the room Merc shut the lights off and used his shields to project an image of the Crucible.

"As all of thee probably knowest, our ally died in battle… Thou hath the Teen Titans to thank for that."

Random pictures of the Crucible blowing up were shown.

"However… There beeth a high possibility that something unforeseen hath happened…"

Pictures of the Vault on fire were shown.

"An escape pod was ejected a second before the Crucible imploded in on itself… We hath been attempting to pinpoint the pod's trajectory and velocity. There beeth a good chance that our ally survived… Only one escape pod escaped the Crucible and we hath ascertained that it ejected from the Vault. The precise location of its whereabouts beeth unknown. It's location beeth in vagueness: planet Earth. We must scour this planet from top to bottom in search of it. That beeth our mission. NOTHING more."

Azor questioned his intentions.

"NOTHING more? Didn't we take an oath to erase the Titans, pardner? After all, they're the ones who supposedly 'eliminated' our ally."

"Dost thou not trust me?"

"Well, no… But-"

"Then thou should not question thine orders. Now… Moveth. We shan't waste another second! If any of thee wishest to challenge the Titans… Do so on thine own time. Meeting adjourned!"

Everyone groaned and left the room. Merc looked down onto his right shield.

"Thy bidding is done. Now answer my question… Dost thou require assistance?"

The man in the image sighed.

"No, Merc… I just need your team to kick up a ruckus throughout Earth… Heck, try to destroy planet Earth to just get the Titans attention… Just make sure that the Titans are unaware that I am alive! Command your team to not make one mention of the possibility of me being alive! My goal shall be met… mark my words…"

Merc chuckled.

"Your plan beeth quite cunning… if I dost say so myself."

"… Whatever."

The man on the other end began to whistle 'the bear went over the mountain.' Merc severed the link with his ally…


	3. Rise From The Ashes

**Sorry for the lack of updates, pals. But maaan I haven't felt inspired lately for writing this story. The writing's been slowgoing and I've done many sessions per day in an attempt to write this. It's not a masterpiece, but at least I tried. For at least the next 5 Chapters it will be centered around Phoenix fighting the Titans. Then Azula, then Azor... and then Merc. I'll say this, though: it's TOUGH writing for OCs, you've got to give them flaws or they'll be Mary Sues or Gary Stues. And... I guess... that's part of why it's taken so long: trying to keep Phoenix in character and giving him flaws. Apologies for the long Author's Note...**

Azor had transported Phoenix to Jump City again, and AGAIN Phoenix had goosebumps. It was NOT fun travelling with Azor, it was always so dark and cold... Phoenix took a look around: he was right behind Titans Tower, and it was in the middle of the night. No one was up and about, and the only visible lights came from Jump City because it was cloudy out.

Phoenix rubbed his hands together. This was going to be fun. This was no ordinary prank or mission that he was assigned. This... was war. He had to give a message to the Titans that the Elementals, that was the group name that he had come up with for Azor, Azula, Merc, and himself, was serious about their business with the Titans. He was mighty proud of what he was about to do, too.

An orb of flame appeared in the palm of Phoenix's right hand.

"Well... this is it... No turning back..."

The orb began to grow exponentially, soon it took both of Phoenix's hands to keep the orb rotating and staying in orb form until it was big enough for the job it was supposed to accomplish.

Phoenix began to sweat, he sure hoped it was big enough and strong enough to take out the Titans Tower now, it rivaled in height. Phoenix inhaled and arched his hands to the tower: the orb began to slowly move into the Tower and burn it. It was tough sustaining the energy and keeping it forcused in one giant orb like that, it was beginning to take a toll on Phoenix.

Alarms began to go off in the Tower. Phoenix tried to speed up the process as much as he could: he wanted the orb to at least reach the middle of the Tower and explode causing as much damage as possible. The Titans managed to evacuate, however just as the orb reached its destination. Phoenix let out a scream in agony and let the orb explode. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, NEVER had he done a job this HUGE. The Tower didn't just disintegrate: it was like it was never even there before. And the little island it was on went with it. And now, a fine layer of mist was rising from the waters after experiencing such extreme heat. Phoenix, being able to turn himself into flame form, was able to save himself. He was certain the Titans had gone with the island and the Tower.

Yet, he was able to see Raven materialize with the rest of the Titans on the mainland. He failed his job in that regard, but hopefully the message was delivered. In his flame form, Phoenix was... a phoenix. He let out a shriek and took to the sky and disappeared above the clouds. The Titans happened to witness it...

All the Titans were filled with a flood of emotions: confusion, anger, contempt, amazement, grief, vengeance... you name it. It happened so quickly that it took awhile to process all that had happened in the blink of an eye. Even Raven was stunned at how quickly she had realized what was happening and had acted upon it.

"DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE... What just happened!? Did the sun come down and try to kill us!?"

Robin pinched his nose in irritation.

"Beast Boy... The sun would disintegrate this entire PLANET... So... NO. Whatever hit us was big and strong... and planned. No WAY could that have happened NATURALLY."

Cyborg was bawling.

"MY TOWERRRRRRRRRRRR! MY BAAAAAAAAAAAABY!!!! NONONONONONONNNOOO..."

The next instant, Cyborg was in a fetal position and sucking on his thumb. Raven sighed.

"It's no use crying over spilt milk... What's done is done. We're HOMELESS now. Whoever did this was obviously trying to send a message... and possibly try to kill us. I'd say their message came across crystal clear, wouldn't you say?"

Robin nodded.

"Yeah... And we can't exactly go to the 'crime scene' and expect to find evidence... I mean, that ball of flame was big enough to incinerate the island... All we'd find is superheated water now..."

"... The Phoenix rises from the ashes!

The Titans whipped around, the man had a dark red shirt and black pants on. And his hair was red and yellow. Phoenix smirked.

"You did well to survive that attack... You have no IDEA how much effort that took... I'm SO used to being SO LAZY! I'm out of tune... But maybe with a little more practice I can do that... no sweat. So, shall we have at it? I'm itching to battle with the original Titans!"

Cyborg was fuming.

"You... You... I'LL KILL YYYOOOOOOOOOU!!!"

Cyborg primed his cannon, but Phoenix wagged his finger at him.

"I wouldn't if I were you... If my hunch is correct, you have to recharge everyday... Right? And if you use up energy just by wastefully blasting me, who can dodge that piece of trash no problem, then you'd only be hurting yourself. The only reason you were able to function every day was because you had that hi-tech Tower of yours... Without it... You're just a piece of junk! Gahahahaha!"

Cyborg was about ready to fire, but Robin stopped him.

"CYBORG! NO! He's right. Let us handle him, you go and start making a temporary recharging unit. Don't worry about us."

Cyborg looked dejected.

"Rob..."

He sighed wistfully, powered down his cannon and walked away. The Titans turned their attention back to Phoenix. Robin was the first to speak.

"First off, who are you? And why do you want to pick a fight with us?"

Phoenix grinned like a wolf, then roared with laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! You don't know a thing about me, do you? 'Cubs... never do they know the fury of their elders...' That's one of my favorite sayings. You Titans disgust me, the whole lot of you. Who on Earth gave you the right to fly around saving the world and act like heroes!? I'll tell you who... No one! Does anyone stand up to you and demand compensation when you bring them harm!? NO!"

"And HOW EXACTLY do we bring them harm?"

Raven asked. Phoenix roared with laughter again.

"Like... when you go around fighting villains like Plasmus, Cinderblock, or Overload! You go and cause damage to civilization and aren't punished justly for it!"

"We pay our debts to society!"

Robin snapped. Phoenix rolled his eyes.

"Oh, sure... And how, pray tell, do you do thaaaat!? Not once have I seen a newspaper that DOESN'T say 'Super Heroes pardoned for any and all damages'! And you might argue, 'but it doesn't SAY it'... But it's REALLY implied. And I've just about had it! We villains are always given the boot for what we do, and maybe we are justly punished... But you Super Freaks aren't given your just desserts for damage you've delivered! That's why the Elementals are here to bring you down! I'm only the first! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Phoenix's arms transformed into huge cannons of crimson flames. He aimed at all four Titans and fired multiple times. The orbs were the size of bowling balls. Robin took action.

"TITANS GO!"

All dodged the barrage of flames. Phoenix continued talking as he paid attention to the battle at hand.

"The Elementals have been on planet Earth a LONG time... And we've studied you Titans quite thoroughly... You've got no chance against a veteran warrior like me!"

Starfire flew right at Phoenix hoping to dish out some damage. Foolish choice on her part. Phoenix's chest glowed and sent a beam of fire directly at Starfire. The beam took her by surprise and she was sent flying into the sea. Next up was Beast Boy as a T-Rex from behind. He lunged at Phoenix, but Phoenix turned into a ball of flames. Beast Boy went right through the flames and crashed into the ground with the flames snaking around his body and reforming above him. Phoenix's head materialized above the orb of flames.

"You can't even touch me! Physical attacks are useless! And don't think I'll be stopped with water, you'd be surprised at what I can do. I'm gonna burn the town red. When I'm done, you won't even recognize it."

Raven used her powers in an attempt to capture Phoenix in a large dark orb. Phoenix's head popped out of the orb and smiled wolfishly.

"That all you got? THAT ALL YOU GOT!?"

The flames inside the orb expanded and rushed out of Raven's prison. Not harming her, but made her irritated. Robin, who had went off in search of water to use against Phoenix, returned with a large hose. He started to spray it at any and all flames that he saw. Phoenix re-materialized and laughed as he rolled on the ground in delight. The water didn't seem to affect him at all.

"You're killing me! AAAAAAAH! I'M MEEELLLTTTIIINNNGGG! HA HA HA HA HA!"

Raven used his moment of mockery to capture him in another orb of her dark powers. Phoenix's head poked out again.

"Aha... But seriously... Are you guys done? I'm about ready to finish playing with you and just end it. You guys aren't fun anymore."

Phoenix expanded his flames once again and shaped into a large phoenix. He started breathing fire onto the town starting many fires. The flaming head of the phoenix formed into a large Phoenix head.

"WHOO HOOOO! BURN BABY! BUUUUUUUUUUURN!"

Robin was beyond irritated and furious, there was just no way they could stop Phoenix alone. Jump City would be gone by morning. But suddenly... Phoenix stopped his assault.

"Woops! Way past your kids' bedtime! I've gotta go! Sorry guys, I just remembered, I have another appointment. But don't worry. You can be sure I'll be back tomorrow. Be sure to remember what I told you, kiddies! GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Flapping his huge wings, Phoenix flew off to elsewhere. Robin stopped Raven, Beast Boy, and Starfire from trying to stop his retreat.

"Guys, we seriously need to stop and strategize. I think... I think this is just another constant reminder that we, the original Titans, can't stop every Super Villain. He's... He's just too powerful... at this point in time. We need to group the world's Titan's once again and band together... to stop these 'Elementals'... As Phoenix remarked, he's just the first... I can't even BEGIN to imagine what the others will be like..."

Raven nodded.

"... You're right... We haven't dealt with a Villain this powerful for AWHILE... He's not invincible... He's just... something we can't handle on our own... for now. I doubt Cyborg would've been much help, he would've DIED if he helped."

Beast Boy and Starfire walked over to Raven and Robin. Beast Boy with some serious burns and Starfire totally soaked.

"Duuuude... I am NOT flambe! I can't BELIEVE how much pain he can dish out! It's totally unfair!!!"

Robin smirked.

"Yeah, but I think the reason he retreated was because he was wasting too much power on us... Remember, he said that orb that incinerated the Tower took a big toll on his powers and strength... I think he was just burning TOO MUCH. ESPECIALLY since he was a HUGE phoenix."

Raven pinched her nose.

"Now if only we could get him to some deserted location and let him burn all he wanted... Like a star..."

Starfire clapped and giggled gleefully.

"Friends! Why don't we take him to the furthest reaches of space and let him-"

"Star, we COULDN'T if we WANTED to. He can probably burn through anything. We'd have to knock him out first and KEEP HIM knocked out... Which wouldn't be possible."

"Not even if we put him into a coma?"

"Ok... Coma aside it wouldn't be possible..."

While the Titans were tending to their injuries and the town's damage's, Phoenix was meeting up with Azula. Phoenix walked slowly up to her and 'tagged' her like in a wrestling match.

"Y-You're up... MAN... Those Titans sure know how to get me to waste myself..."

Azula shook her head.

"No... The rules are that you have to be defeated before any of the other Elementals are up..."

"What!?"

"Look, it's Merc's gameplan, ok? Waste too much energy with you and maybe I can finish them off."

"SO UNFAIR... If I had known I'd DIE... I..."

Merc appeared to them in a hologram.

"Was your mission not successful?"

"No, no... It went fine, Merc... I'm just EXHAUSTED from having to waste SO MUCH power... WHY do I have to die!?"

Merc smirked.

"If thou were truly elite, thou could easily defeat thine adversaries and winneth the fight for... 'the Elementals'."

"Oh, did we tell you that was a stupid name?"

Azula taunted. Phoenix went red with fury.

"I know, I know! It's not very catchy or evil-sounding... But I think it suits us well!"

Merc sounded irritated.

'Very well, Phoenix... Continue with thine mission... Thou only needest to incinerate thine enemies into oblivion... A simple task I have set for thee... Don't faileth me..."

With that, Merc's hologram faded...

**TBC**


	4. Here Comes The Calvary, Pardner!

**Attempting a Second Chapter... Surprised I've still got readers. I would've thought you guys would've given up on me by now... :( Well, thanks for stayin' with me... Sincerest apologies. **

Phoenix was flying back to Jump City, he felt a little rejuvenated after his last battle, but his body still ached. He resolved to burn Jump City down to the ground, and to do it as quickly and painlessly as possible. That's why he was caught off guard.

Raven, enveloped in her dark energy shaped like a raven, came out of nowhere and crashed into Phoenix. This stunned Phoenix and forced him to rematerialize into his human self. Next came Starfire who showed no mercy and hit him full speed and Phoenix was sent flying into a random skyscraper. As Phoenix was still trying to recover from that, Beast Boy came in pterodactyl form, picked him up, and carelessly tossed him into one of Starfire's incoming starbolts.

Phoenix was sent spiraling into the ground below and made a small crater. He tried to pick himself up, but found that he was in pain, which was new to him from the aches in his body previously. He attempted to change into his flame form, but was rammed into again by Starfire. He was tired of being pushed around and made himself into a flaming arrow. He aimed himself right at Beast Boy but was swatted away by Raven's dark energy. He materialized into his human self again after finding himself in a fountain of water. In an attempt to break their continuous barrage of attacks, Phoenix attempted to idly chat.

"Ahah... I see you guys got better... I... can see you're done playing aroooooouuuund!"

He was stunned at the sight of hundreds of starbolts flying at him. They were showing NO MERCY. Phoenix through up a flame barrier that managed to deflect most of the starbolts, but it couldn't prevent ALL of them. He was launched into the air after a few seconds by Raven from underneath. He was rammed into by both Beast Boy and Starfire from different directions thus preventing him from going anywhere. On the verge of losing consciousness, he turned himself into flames and dispersed in different directions.

Robin yelled to the Titans through their communicators.

"Quick! He's getting away!"

Flames were snaking around EVERYWHERE. Eventually, a giant orb could be seen forming above Jump City. Raven enclosed Phoenix's orb in dark energy and teleported him away to a different location.

Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy and Phoenix were all now in some random desert. And by the look of things, they weren't on Earth, but it was very similar to Earth. The orb of flames completed its structure and imploded which devastated the area severely. A sandstorm now brewed and it was very difficult to see. A mixture of flame, sand and wind prevented the Titans from leaving the safety of Raven's temporary barrier. Phoenix seemed to reform himself, but it was difficult to see if he truly did or not.

"Aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! You Titans are sneaky, moving me to a completely different location! But don't think that will save your lives!"

Raven's barrier was soon assaulted by massive, flaming dragon heads that were baring massive teeth. The sandstorm was still going on, so it was unwise to try and lower the barrier. Instead they disappeared momentarily and reappeared above Phoenix's unknown form. They thought they could see him clearly before, but obviously they were wrong. In front of them now was a massive flaming dragon with 7 heads which were all breathing fire.

Beast Boy whined.

"Can't we just leave him here?"

Raven shook her head.

"No, he'll just find his way back to Earth somehow. We have to finish the job right here, right now. If we don't... Earth stands to be burnt to a crisp."

"I can hear every word you're saying!!!"

One of the dragon heads was up to Raven's orb's level now. It was grinning wolfishly. The dragon below sprouted flaming wings, lifted into the air and began circling the Titans. Raven sighed.

"Okay... Have to think up a new plan... Obviously he's not exhausted enough."

Raven shot dark energy hands out at Phoenix, but he was used to that now and dodged with easy.

"GAHAHAHAHA! Try something else, or I swear I'll kill you right here and right now!!!"

What came next did surprise Phoenix. He was rammed into by the orb itself with such force that it made him change back into human form and fall to the desert below. Raven caught him with two dark energy hands and held him up to their level.

"NOW do you give up?"

Phoenix roared with laughter.

"I may be wounded, but the Phoenix rises from the ashes!!!"

"Enough!

The Titans and Phoenix turned to a hologram of Merc. The hologram was tall enough and large enough that it towered OVER Raven's orb.

"Phoenix, I have dispatched Azula and Azor to come and get thou, thou are obviously failing in thy duties and must be disciplined justly. I am very disappointed in thee, thou shouldst be able to dealeth with children with ease. But here thou art being utterly destroyed by thine own adversaries... Thou must reflect upon this and thanketh Azula and Azor for cleaning up thine mess... Good day."

Phoenix went white as he saw two silhouettes appear on the desert floor below. He turned himself into flames and snaked his way down to his comrades.

"Well, well, well... Pardner... Didn't expect you to be this easy to push around... Guess we'll just take it from here... Where are them little doggies? They should be hogtied for messin' with family."

Azula nodded.

"Once we finish erasing these Titans, we'll need to talk..."

Raven's orb descended close to the three Elementals. Azor took out a canteen of water and began chugging it.

"Well, well, well... Here they are now... Now watch how a REAL professional does it...

Azor aimed his right hand's fingers at the Titans. Shadows suddenly darted out from underneath and flew at the Titans. The shadows expanded and became like ropes and tied the Titans up good. Azor smirked and tipped his hat to Azula.

"I don't feel like killin' today... They're all yours, bambina!"

Azula grinned wolfishly. Her entire body started to change from a young beauty into a hideous beast. She was twice the size she was before with double the speed, double the strength, and double the reflexes. She lunged at the Titans only to meet with a dark energy wall. Azor scratched the back of his ear.

"Hmm... Looks like we got an Azarathian on our hands. Why didn't you say anything, pardner? No wonder you were pushed around so easily. I'll handle this..."

Shadow turned black like a shadow and stretched his body so that he completely surrounded the Titans who were still tied up good.

"Heyyy, bambinas! Why won't we go for a ride!?"

Azor began circling the Titans faster and faster, soon the desert disappeared and was replaced with a whirlwind of darkness. Soon they were being transported across space. Raven was curious as to who Azor was.

"Are you from Azarath?"

Azor chuckled, but his voiced seemed to be everywhere in midteleport.

"Aha... No, bambina... I'm from a sort of... negative world very similar to Azarath, it's called Azorath. I don't have a name, and I don't like to be called Azorathian. So... I'm called Azor by friends and foes alike. Azorath and Azarath are complete opposites, like positive and negative. And they're real close to each other too. Surprised they didn't become one again."

"... 'become one again'?"

"Yeah, our two worlds separated a long, long time ago. No one knows what it was actually called. And they were linked, when Azarath was destroyed by Trigon, Azorath experienced a similar disaster. I was the sole survivor. So, in a way, I'm the yang to your yin. Git it now, bambina?"

"Not really, but I guess we'll be seeing you later... I'm not interested in where you're taking us... later."

"Hey...!"

Raven teleported all of them out right before Azor dropped them at the location he chose for them. Azor returned back to Azula and Phoenix.

"Hmph... They're slippery little doggies. Don't worry, we'll get 'em next time. They haven't seen the full extent of my powers yet, after all. Nor Azula's. Ain't that right, bambina?"

Azula was peeved.

"I'LL KILL THEM!!!!"

Azor chuckled.

"Ahaha... That's right, the fun's only just beginning. Well... Time to report back to Merc. Poor Phoenix... Gonna be disciplined for not being able to perform his duties... But maybe, just maybe... we can all get a powerup... You look like you're gonna need it, pardner. Yep, that's right, pardner... Continue makin' that face 'cause here comes Merc's retribution!"

Phoenix didn't say a word, but he appeared to be afraid, very afraid. Azor whisked them all away with his shadows...

**TBC**


	5. Agents, Battles, and Element Stones

**I think it's time for a new twist to the Story. One I thought up recently, hope I can incorporate it into the Story okay... Glad I've still got Readers...**

"A-A-Are th-thou certain, my liege? Wh-Why dost thou need to send another Agent over? I-I thought we were doing just fine."

The voice over the transmission sounded exasperated and irritated.

"I assure you Merc that this is only a formality. It SHOULD make your job easier. Plus, my Agent has been itching to... get a tighter lid on Jump City's constantly rising crime spree... Just lay low until he 'passes through'. He isn't aware that I or your lot are criminals, I am merely using him as a pawn to coerce the Titans into hiding. If you have a problem with it, you and the Elementals can just leave. I don't require whiners, Merc. Don't mess this up..."

Merc's mysterious ally ended the transmission without giving Merc room for a rebuttal. Merc sighed heavily and stood up and stretched. He had an awful lot of responsibility resting on his shoulders, he was the leader of the Elementals and he kept in contact with their master and ally in secret. But the situation was moving out of his control; if his master was calling in another Agent then the Elementals weren't doing their job properly. And oh how he hated disappointing his master. He would need to whip the Elementals into shape for this, he already punished Phoenix for not being strong enough for handling three Titans on his own. Merc sighed again.

"There beeth only one way out for us now... I haveth no choice but to alloweth my brethren to find their Element Stones. If only there were some other way... The Element Stones... They beeth their death warrants. They enhanceth their powers, but slowly eateth away at their life force... And cannot be stopped when the process begineth. And since I doth not have a Stone for me... I shall liveth on. Alone."

Out on the battlefield...

The rest of the Elementals were battling the Titans again. Shadow was doing far better than his 'brother' and 'sister' were doing, however. Phoenix was a large phoenix again and was trying his best to incinerate Beast Boy and Starfire. The tide of battle began to tip, however. Azula was in her beast form and was assaulting a defenseless Robin, but she still wasn't doing that much better since Cyborg was blasting her with his re-amplified sonic cannon. That left Azor with Raven, and he was doing fairly well even if it appeared they were evenly matched. They were both blasting each other with dark energy, but Azor was slowly gaining ground as his dark powers began to overpower Raven's.

"... That all you got, bambina? I must say, your powers are awfully weak for an Azarathian. I mean, sure, okay, you were busy licking your wounds from your last battle... but still. If you can't handle a battle like THIS, I KNOW something's not right here. I'm barely breaking a sweat, you going to be my first victim!?"

Raven's eyes glowed a bright white.

"... No... I just haven't given 100% yet..."

Raven's dark energy began to regain its ground and slowly take Azor's. Azor just chuckled.

"Well, we got a feisty dogie. People gotta learn how to tie them dogies properly or people are liable to get hurt... Somebody's gotta be the sheriff around these parts..."

Azor shifted more force into his dark energy, but was surprised he wasn't gaining any ground back at all. Azor winced: THIS was going to hurt... He forced his energy to go intangible and go through Raven's to get a direct hit on Raven. Raven's blast hit him directly as well, but he managed to throw up a temporary barrier around himself that'd weaken the blow's efficiency. Azor got up and dusted himself off. He looked over at the unconscious Raven and tipped his hat.

"Sorry bambina, but that's the way the cookie crumbles..."

That's when Azor decided to look at how the rest of his team was doing: big mistake. Starfire flew right into him and suckerpunched him in the stomach. Azor was sent flying through 3 buildings straight and didn't move. He wasn't unconscious or dead, but he liked to play cat and mouse with his prey. However, it seemed Merc had other ideas since he was staring at at Azor through a cracked mirror that broke when Azor crashed through the building.

"... Azor. Retreateth. Now."

Azor stood up and dusted himself off and cracked his neck to loosen it up again after crashing through 3 buildings.

"But why? I just beat the hardest of the bunch, I can have 'em all to ya in less than a minute."

"... No time... It would seemeth that we mayest not need to dealeth with those 5 Titans after all..."

Azor wasn't buying the facade.

"Merc... what's up? You're never this... stiff."

"N-"

"... And if you don't tell me, I'll have Azula convince you otherwise... Now... What's wrong, pardner?"

"..................

Merc didn't respond, he didn't WANT to tell Azor about the Interpol Agent coming, but it would seem that there was no other way around it: Azula was just too tough to beat in beast form. Merc sighed.

"There beeth an... Agent coming to Jump City..."

Azor raised an eye brow not buying it.

"... And...?"

Merc sighed again exasperatedly.

"He beeth... Interpol. And thou knowest what Interpol beeth like these days... They conducteth... experiments..."

"...! A-Ah... W-W-Why didn't you say so in the first place, p-pardner!? I mean... Interpol...!"

Azor was gone in a split second, off to fetch Azula and Phoenix before the Agent came upon the scene. Phoenix and Azula were both unconscious and ready to be taken away by the authorities when Azor came back.

"Sorry, pardners... bambinas...! We got other priorities right now...!"

Shadow forcibly teleported Azula, Phoenix, and himself away before the sirens of coming police cruisers could be heard. By the time the Titans had registered what had happened, the police showed up. A buff officer exited the first vehicle. His hair was looking wolfish, he was wearing sunglasses, and when he smirked, he beared sharp fangs.

"Well, well, well... Looks like I got to meet you sooner than I thought... Team Titans...!"

The officer lunged at Robin and straddled him. Then he handcuffed him.

"You'll be coming with me to answer some questions... No one breaks the law and escapes this wolf's fangs...!"

Cyborg ran at the officer, but the officer brought out a fifty calibur gun, one shot could penetrate Cyborg's head. Cyborg held up his hands peaceably.

"Hey man, we're not the bad guys!"

The officer roared with laughter.

"Yeah, right! And I'm Santy Claus! Look at what your alien girl caused to those skyscrapers! It's a wonder you terrorists weren't locked up sooner!"

Beast Boy was fuming.

"We were only battling the bad guys!!!"

The officer looked around and shot an icey glare at Beast Boy.

"Then where are they, kid...? The only troublemakers I see... are you hooligans! You'll be paying back the city though... hard time... Boys! Arrest the other 4 delinquents!"

A hundred 'Sirs!' could be heard after the first officer snapped two fingers. A hundred officers came running at the Titans from out of nowhere. Beast Boy turned into an elephant and was prepared to trample over the charging officers, but Robin stopped him.

"Beast Boy! Wait! ... Officer, you win. We'll cooperate. I'm not about to turn MY team into a bunch of outlaws."

The officer roared with laughter again.

"Oh, it's too late for that! But wise choice. You got guts, kid. Nobody escapes this wolf's fangs! Since I know you and you don't seem to know me, I might as well fill you in on that much. My name... is Shi-Long Lang. And I'm with Interpol."

**Sorry for the long wait, people. I just hit more writer's block. Oh well. Things should really start picking up now, though... **


	6. Phoenix Rises, Phoenix Falls

**Alrighty, I should be able to focus on this Story solely for awhile now. Basically, between schoolwork, writing for another Fic, and writer's block, I just haven't been able to continue on with this Story. I have a pretty firm grasp on where I want this Fic to go, so things will REALLY be picking up in this Chapter. It's time to start picking off the Elementals one by one, and it's not in the way you may be thinking.. this Chapter will be the first with the appearance of the Element Stones, and I'm a little nervous with writing about them. But we'll see how well I do. Would like some concrit, I KNOW there's some to give... Sorry for the long AN.**

Phoenixwas grinning like a madman. No, scratch that. He WAS a madman. In his hands he held his Element Stone: the Supernova Stone. He could FEEL the power from the Stone flooding into his body. He could also feel more pain than he had ever felt before. Yet Phoenix believed it was worth it, after all: he was half Time Lord. All the Elementals were. That's why Phoenix was furious with the Titans for destroying the very last Time Lord. The Ruler was the sole survivor of the Time War, or so the legend said. Phoenix wasn't 100% convinced; the Ruler may have been too smart for his own people, but why sacrifice ALL of them for no apparent reason...? Something wasn't right, and Phoenix was determined to find out what it was...

Somewhere far away in a junkyard...

A man with blonde hair who was wearing a black hoody and black sweatpants was sitting on a thrown out couch that was by a fire he made and he was eating meat. Another man appeared behind him. This one was wearing a dark brown, with blue pinstripes, 4-buttoned suit, a dress shirt and tie, a light brown faux-suede overcoat, and trainers. This second man had an aura that made it seem like he has lived for hundreds of years. His hair and eyes were brown and he was staring intently at the man in black. The man in black, now finished eating, acknowledged the presence of the man behind him and stood up not facing him. Slowly, the man turned around. The blonde-haired man's face was rugged and his eyes were black, no color to them but black and white and his aura was just about the same as the other's. This man frowned and glared at the newcomer. He looked down at his hands which began to spark with electricity, he smiled mischieviously.

The second man had the most serious face on as he began to walk slowly over to the devious man. He made no attempt to say anything to this man, words would fail in this situation. The man with the sparking hands aimed his right hand at the man striding over to him. Electricity shot out and narrowly missed the man's right shoulder. The man continued his stride without flinching.

The man fired with his left hand at a pile of junk near the other man. The other man still did not flinch. The man took that as a challenge, so he began rubbing his two hands together. The two hands started having electricity dance across them. The other man continued to stride and the man with the electricity sped up his rubbing increasing the electricity's power. Without warning, the man with the electricity made a shoving gesture and electricity shot out of both hands and hit the other man square in the chest. The man's face was contorted with pain and sorrow and regret. The man fell to his knees and was about to collapse to the ground completely, but the blonde-haired man quickly ran over and caught him before he completely fell over. The blonde-haired man, realizing what he was doing, looked straight into the other man's eyes, sneered, and let him fall. The blonde-haired man sat down a little distance away from the crumpled man on the ground. The man was not dead yet, so it was definitely HIM. The blonde-haired man began to speak.

"... I had estates. Don't you remember my father's land back home? Pastures of red grass stretching wide across the slopes of Mount Partition. We used to run across those fields all day... Calling up at the sky.

The man shook his head.

"... Look at us now."

The brown-haired man looked up at him. He tried to pick himself up.

"... We're not eloquent... With how many people you've killed..."

The other man shook his head.

"... I am SO HUNGRY."

The brown-haired man nodded.

"Something went wrong when you tried to escape from your ship... Your body's ripped open... Now you're killing yourself!"

"But that's human COOKING out there! They eat so much! All that ROASTED MEAT! With... With cakes and red wine! All that hot, fat, blood food! Pots... Flesh... Grease... Juice... Baking, burned, sticky, hot skin... SO HOT! SO HOT! Spice! Spice! Spice!"

The brown-haired man was concerned.

"Stop..."

"It's mine...! It's mine...! It's mine...! EATITEATITEATITEATITEATIT!!!"

The blonde-haired man clutched his head as if in pain. The brown-haired man, thinking it was okay, calmly spoke again.

"What... if I ask you for help...?"

The blonde-haired man looked up again and stared incredulously at him.

"Oh sure! And while we're at it, why not just act like our past battles never happened!?"

The brown-haired man stared seriously at him.

"I've been told... something is returning... Ruler, please..."

The Ruler shook his head and stretched his arms out.

"And here I am!"

The brown-haired man shook his head.

"No... Something more... I was told the end of time..."

The Ruler clutched his head.

"But it hurts... It HURTS! Doctor, the noise... the noise in my head! Doctor... One, two, three, four... One, two, three, four... One, two, three, four... One, two, three, four... Stronger than ever before! Why can't you hear it!?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"I'm sorry..."

The Ruler pointed at his head.

"LISTEN! LISTENLISTENLISTEN! Every minute... Every second... Every beat of my hearts... There it is... Calling to me... Please... listen..."

The Doctor shook his head again.

"... I can't hear it..."

The Ruler leaned over and put pulled their two faces together but inches apart.

"... LISTEN."

Their foreheads touched as their minds did. The Doctor could hear four drumbeats in a very fast rhythym. The Doctor recoiled backwards.

"WHOA!"

The Ruler glared at him as the Doctor just sat there astonished. The Ruler prompted him.

"WHAT!?"

"Ugh... I could hear it... But there's no noise... There never has been, it's just been your own insanity! It's not...

The Ruler began to stand up and was smiling crazily.

"What is it!? What's inside your head!?"

The Ruler began giggling.

"Hehehe... It's real... It's real...! IT'S REAL!!!"

The Ruler discharged electricity from both his hands aiming at the ground which launched him into the air and caused him to 'fly' away. The Doctor stood up hurriedly and began chasing after him. The Ruler was going pretty slow, so the Doctor could still hear his insane laughter. The Doctor stopped a few feet away, the Ruler had landed on top of a big pile of junk. The Ruler stared down triumphantly at him.

"All these years... And you thought I was MAD! King of the wasteland! But something is calling me, Doctor... What is it? What is it! WHAT IS IT!?"

The Doctor tried to calm him down.

"Please...! Just call off your team of half Time Lords! There's no need to senselessly attack innocent humans!"

The Ruler smirked.

"Oh ho... I've got plans for the human race and it DOESN'T involve them dying... Don't worry, I'll be sure to take GOOD care of them... And don't you worry, I WILL find out what's calling me... You can be assured of that. I'd give Earth about another DAY... And then everything will end. End of war, end of liberty, end of individuality! I'm ALMOST done, by tomorrow night... Earth will be MINE! Ahahahahahahahahahaha!"

The Ruler continued to laugh as he pulled out his teleport. The Doctor didn't like the sound of this one bit, but his sonic screwdriver didn't affect the Ruler's teleport and he couldn't get up to the Ruler in time. The Ruler laughed a little more right at the Doctor and teleported away triumphantly and the morning was JUST starting...

Shi-Long Lang had taken the Titans in for questioning when Phoenix returned to Jump City even more powerful than before. Phoenix was already in his large phoenix form and incinerating the city when Lang heard the first of many explosions. Lang growled at Robin.

"Hmph... Looks like we got a few more hooligans to deal with!

Lang snapped his fingers.

"Are you guys waiting for an invitation!? Go and arrest the new hooligans!"

A hundred 'Sirs!' could be heard. Soon after, doors were opening as a hundred Officers rushed out to arrest the 'hooligans'. And soon after that, screams could be heard from outside. Lang shot Robin another angry glare.

"If those are more Titans trying to save you guys... I'll have them all arrested for obstruction of justice!"

Robin, handcuffed, yelled angrily back.

"NO Titan would DARE destroy on purpose! And we wouldn't DARE harm fellow crime fighters!"

Lang grinned wolfishly at him.

"Hmph... That's your side of the story at least... I'll go see what's all the hubbub. Don't think of running away now..."

Lang bolted out of the room and ran out the door to the outside. Robin picked the lock to his handcuffs and unlocked them with ease. Hands free, Robin proceeded to run after Lang...

Outside was more chaotic than Robin could have imagined. Almost all the buildings that he could see were on fire, people were running around frantically trying to find safe shelter, and it was far brighter than usual. That's when Robin noticed that it wasn't the sun that was causing the light: it was an even BIGGER phoenix made of pure flames that was hovering above the City: it was breathing fire like there was no tomorrow. Robin looked around for Lang, he saw him gaping at the large phoenix. Lang cursed.

"Bloody hell...! How are we supposed to fight that!?"

Robin agreed silently, Phoenix seemed a lot more powerful this time and if he kept THIS up, Jump City would be a wasteland in less than 10 minutes. The Titans were barely able to handle Phoenix before, but now... Now it'd be IMPOSSIBLE to face him, they wouldn't stand a CHANCE. That's when Robin heard a strange groaning noise and a blue police box appeared nearby. The Doctor ran out looking everywhere frantically. Robin didn't bother giving him another thought because he HAD to think of some way to counter Phoenix's new power...

The Doctor looked up and saw Phoenix. He was nervous to say the least, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, but then, could he do it and keep the half Time Lord alive? The Doctor saw a teenage boy in a cape and smirked after looking around some more.

"Same old humans... A crisis happens and some try to be heroes... Eh, he'll have to do... 'Scuse me!!"

The Doctor ran over to Robin and almost ran into him. Robin turned to the Doctor again, he didn't have time to talk to a petrified citizen.

"What is it!?"

The Doctor held up his hands peaceably.

"Easy... I'm only here to help... Look, I can stop that thing from generating fire... But when I do, the person generating that fire will fall. Now, you'll need some rope so you can catch him when he does, ok?"

Robin blinked. This man was strange.

"Sir, I suggest you stop joking around and go-"

The Doctor sighed exasperatedly.

"Humans! You're so... bloody thick! Thinking you can handle crises like these on your own... Look, you're right. We shouldn't be standing around here like this, we could get incinerated here. Let's just go!"

The Doctor took Robin by surprise and forcibly dragged him over to the blue police box. The Doctor snapped his fingers and the doors opened. Robin blinked again not believing his eyes: the inside was bigger than the outside! Robin shook his head and tried to get away.

"That has to be some kind of trick...! I mean the inside defies-"

The Doctor grabbed him more firmly and dragged him into the box. He closed the doors and dragged Robin over to main console which piloted the Doctor's ship. The Doctor grinned and began piloting like crazy.

"Hold on! This won't take a tick!"

Robin heard the groaning sound again, this time louder. Robin shook his head furiously and ran for the doors again. When he opened them, they were right above the large phoenix. The Doctor yelled over to Robin.

"Good thing you looked before you bolted, eh...? I don't exactly have the time to save every single human... I'm sorry... But! Listen up! When that thing stops generating fire, you SAVE the falling person, 'kay...? I know this is new to you... but we don't have a choice in the matter here! Here we go!"

The Doctor flipped a few more switches at the console and Robin looked outside: sure enough, Phoenix was in human form again gripping a red stone about the size of his palm. Robin used his grapple to tie to the railing right beside the door and jumped. He grabbed an unconscious Phoenix as well as he could, but he was pretty hefty since he was a grown man and Robin wasn't. Phoenix, due to Robin grabbing him, dropped the red stone and it fell to the burning city below. Robin could feel the Doctor reeling him and Phoenix back to the blue police box... that was FLYING! Robin couldn't believe it... What was most unbelievable however... was how damaged Jump City was because of Phoenix alone...

**To be continued...**

**Sorry for the late update. I tried writing this as best I could. **


	7. The Angel Descends

**From now on, rather than updating randomly, I'm going to TRY to post a new Chapter each week. I'll make up for a week if I miss one. There aren't too many Chapters left, however. From now on, each of the remaining Elementals will get a two-parter dedicated to their fighting the Titans. And then the finale will be set for a maximum of 3 Chapters. So that gives me 8 weeks after this one to bring this Story to a satisfactory end. Sorry for the long AN. **

Azula was applying make-up to her face as she looked into a mirror. After about two minutes she put the make-up away and stared piercingly into the mirror.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall... Who's the prettiest one of them all!?"

Without warning, Merc's image suddenly appeared in her mirror.

"Thou should not be distracting thyself..."

Azula fell out of her chair and screamed.

"Gah!"

Merc chuckled and continued as she got back up and sat back in her chair growling at him.

"I have foundeth thine Element Stone. Useth it at thine own risk..."

Azula's Element Stone, which was a very dark shade of purple, passed through the mirror into Azula's hands. Azula maliciously grinned.

"Thank you, Merc..."

Merc chuckled again.

"Once thou useth it, thou will never beeth the same again, child. Thou will haveth power beyond thine imagination... But it cometh at a price."

Azula shrieked back at him.

"I DON'T CARE! Those punks will PAY for capturing Phoenix! Now I have to do all the stinkin' grunt work!!!"

Merc laughed ominously.

"Thou will geteth thine chance at crushing thine enemies... But beeth aware that once thou dawneth thy Element Stone, thou wilt never beeth the same again, child."

Azula smirked and strapped her Element Stone to her waist...

Elsewhere...

"... Count off!"

"1! 1! 1! 1! 1! 1! 1! 1! ... 1! 1!"

A man next to Agent Lang saluted him.

"Shifu! 99 callouts! That means all 99 Officers are most likely here!"

Agent Lang nodded. He was wearing sunglasses and not looking too happy.

"Alright men! We have civilians to save and a fugitive to recapture! The recapture of the fugitive is top priority! But don't hesitate to save citizens trapped under rubble! Are we clear!?"

All the Officers saluted.

"Sir!"

They all shouted at once. Lang snapped his fingers.

"... Alrighty then! Meeting dismissed!

Lang took one step forward and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Positions!"

"Sir!"

All the Officers ran in separate directions...

Robin was still in the TARDIS with the Doctor. Phoenix had been restrained in a room where he could not escape and he was, at least temporarily, in a coma. The Doctor was busy examining the Element Stone that Phoenix had. The Doctor had managed to bring the TARDIS back down to Earth and had managed to locate Phoenix's Stone. Despite falling from a drastic height and being burned, the Stone was intact. The Doctor found that fascinating and had decided to examine the Stone in more detail. He wasn't exactly pleased with the results...

"No, no... NO!!! It CAN'T be!"

Robin was taken aback by the Doctor's sudden outburst.

"Wh-what!?"

The Doctor gritted his teeth and began maneuvering the TARDIS again.

"... This Stone is one type of a Star called a White Point Star. And it's found on only one planet..."

"And what planet is that!?"

Robin wanted to know. The Doctor stopped momentarily and looked him straight in the eyes.

"... Gallifrey."

Robin was taken aback again.

"B-But... It burned!"

"... I know..."

"Unless the Ruler had them at some point...?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"... No... It's new... and not even fully grown. Yes, White Point Stars are grown. If it had been fully grown, we might've been in real trouble..."

Robin blinked.

"So... Does that mean that there are other types too? Because there are 3 other Elementals still out there..."

The Doctor looked thoughtful as he piloted the TARDIS.

"... Yes... At least 4 other types... And all grant you different types of powers if grown correctly. But it doesn't work on humans, you have to be a Time Lord, or at least have Time Lord genes in you... They are colored in Red, Purple, Black, and White. The White is the most rare and is USUALLY regarded as myth BUT I've seen one so it's NOT a myth. The most common is Red and Black and Purple are somewhere in between. Anyway... This means Gallifrey is returning... and that isn't good..."

Robin blinked again.

"Not good...? But aren't the Time Lords your people...? Shouldn't it be WONDERFUL if they were thought to be dead...?"

"..."

The Doctor didn't answer and continued to pilot the TARDIS in silence...

Lang re-entered the only unscorched building in Jump City: the Detention Center. The other Titans were still there and he needed to know where Robin would be hiding. Lang tried Raven first.

"So... Where's your leader, hmm? Abandoned you? Can't say I'm surprised. I mean he IS a fugitive looking out for #1. Heh."

Raven glared at him.

"... He did NOT abandon us... Robin's NEVER done that to his team. Never has. Never will."

Her eyes began to glow black but she got shocked by her cuffs before she got too powered up. Lang roared with laughter.

"Heh... Well, whatever you say, doll.

Raven got shocked again. Harder this time.

"Anyway... If you have any idea where your leader is, you let me know. I'll let you and your other team mates go if you tell me where your leader is."

Raven was about to reply when a sound could be heard from above. Lang's communicator went off. Lang barked into it.

"Report! What's going on out there!?"

An Officer reported back immediately.

"Just a falling star, sir! Though it did come in pretty close to Jump City... Want any of us dispatched to go see what it was, sir!?"

Lang wolfishly grinned.

"Of course... I want 3 of you to find out if that's really a rock from space or not... On the double!"

"Sir!"

In the TARDIS...

The Doctor was looking with bulging eyes at the screen showing the Earth completely. He noticed the falling object from space, but it came out of nowhere! The Doctor used the TARDIS screen to zoom in on what exactly the object that was falling was: he couldn't get a good look, too blurry. He watched it make a crater, but even then the Doctor couldn't tell what the object was...

Lang's Officers reached the object's crash site first. It was smoky and there was fire everywhere, but nevertheless, Lang's men went into the crater anyway. An Officer aimed his flashlight at the object in question.

"It's a statue of a woman, sir! A very peculiar object to be falling from space..."

Lang didn't sound very interested.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Is that all?"

The Officer looked closer at the statue.

"Um... It appears to have a Purple Stone strapped around its waist, sir! Oh, and it has wings! And... That's about it..."

The Officer took his eyes off the statue and an Officer screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

The Officer who reported to Lang turned to the Officer who screamed.

"What IS it, Barnes? This BETTER be important..."

"Th-the statue m-m-moved, sir! It's now stuck sitting up, look!"

The Officer sighed and much to his surprise, Barnes was right! The statue had moved and was now pointing its pointer finger right at him and Barnes. The Officer called the third Officer over.

"... Angelo, get over here will you!?"

The Officer turned his head away from the statue again as did Barnes and looked as Angelo ran over. Angelo yelped.

"S-S-S-S-Sir!? Is... Is this the object that fell, Bob sir!?"

Angelo was pointing his flashlight at right behind Bob, Bob turned around and fell over in surprise. The statue was RIGHT BEHIND him and had its arms stretched out as if to attack him! It's mouth was open too and fangs were bearing. Bob nervously contacted Lang as Angelo and Barnes had their eyes on the statue.

"A-A-Agent Lang sir... I think we may have a bit of a problem..."

*Crack!* *Crack!* *Crack!*

Lang answered his communicator again. He sighed exasperatedly.

"What is it NOW Bob...? Bob? BOB?"

After a minute of static, Bob answered.

"... Sorry, sir. The statue-the Angel- was movin' when we weren't lookin', sir."

Lang sighed again.

"Bob, you KNOW that statues can't move! Put on Angelo for me, I've got another assignment for him!"

Raven was listening as Lang and Bob were conversing. Something wasn't right... Raven could FEEL it. Bob answered again, a slight amusement in his voice this time.

"... I'm sorry, sir. Angelo and Barnes are dead, sir. The Angel killed them, sir. Snapped their necks, sir."

Lang shook his head not amused.

"Bob, stop joking around. Stone Angels CAN'T kill. Now PUT ANGELO ON."

Bob didn't answer again for another minute.

"... I'm sending a picture to your mobile, sir. Angelo and Barnes are dead, sir. It's true, sir. I'm comin' back now, sir."

Raven watched as Lang slowly took out his phone and looked at the message Bob sent him, it did indeed show Angelo and Barnes dead with their necks snapped at the feet of an Angel. Lang took a deep breath and cursed himself.

"... Bob. How did you escape...?"

Bob sounded amused again.

"I didn't escape, sir. The Angel killed me too."

Lang shook his head in disbelief.

"What do you MEAN the Angel killed you too!?"

"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected... but it WAS pretty quick and THAT'S somethin'."

Lang smirked.

"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?"

Bob STILL sounded amused.

"You're not talking to me, sir. The Angel has my voice. Basically, it's using my subconsciousness to communicate with you. Sorry for the confusion, sir."

Lang began to sweat, he was beginning to take this seriously.

"So, basically, when you're saying YOU'RE coming back, you mean..."

"... The Angel's comin', sir. Yes."

Lang sounded aggravated. He barked into his communicator.

"Alright men! Do NOT! I REPEAT! Do NOT interact with 'Officer' Bob! If you do, you basically sign your death warrant! I want all units to report back to me IMMEDIATELY! NOW!"

Bob laughed, he 'heard' the broadcast.

"Do you think it will do any good, sir? You don't have any knowledge of what the Angel is capable of, sir! It's fast, faster than you can believe! You don't stand a chance, sir!"

Lang growled, that's when the Doctor barged into the room. Robin ran in not too long after him. The Doctor snatched the communicator away from Lang.

"... Angel Bob, might I inquire as to what you're after?"

Bob took the same tone of amusement as he had earlier.

"Might I ask who I am addressing, sir? I hope that you're not some ignorant human trying to sound tough..."

The Doctor answered boldly and wholeheartedly.

"... I'm the Doctor. I'm from the Planet Gallifrey in the Constellation of Costalbourus. I've fought many Angels and Demons, I've even fought the RACE of the Weeping Angels. And I can tell you right now that you're not anything new. I can take you on any day... Look me up."

Bob didn't reply for a minute.

"Ah, THE Doctor, correct? I've heard much about you, sir. But do you honestly believe you stand a better chance of fighting ME than any of these other ignorant humans, sir? The Angel mocks you, sir. You don't stand a chance!"

The Doctor replied defiantly.

"... I give you one hour to halt your attack on this planet, Angel Bob. Take it, or I WILL stop you."

Bob laughed.

"How do you plan to do that, sir...?"

The Doctor smirked.

"Oh, just you watch me... I've got MORE than just humans at my disposal. You WILL be stopped."

"... I believe you asked me what my plan was, sir."

The Doctor nodded silently.

"... Yes..."

Bob didn't answer for a while.

"With every human I kill, sir... I get stronger. I am capable of creating an army on Earth, sir. Don't underestimate me, sir."

The Doctor asked increduously.

"And HOW will you do THAT...?"

"The image of an Angel becomes an Angel, sir. It's quite amazing that the Angel can transmit 'picture messages', sir. It doesn't even have to know a number, sir. It can transmit to every. single. phone."

The Doctor was stunned. The Doctor turned to Lang who had just gotten a message on his phone, it was a picture of the Angel. And it was slowly starting to come out of the phone... Every phone.

**TBC**

**Sorry for the long wait. The second part... next week! Could be posted from Monday to Saturday, I don't know what day. **


	8. Angel Declaration of War Denied

**Time for Part 2... **

Azula could feel the power flowing through her. She was the Angel and the Angel was her. A setback from the power that she possessed now was that she couldn't be seen by anyone ever again, another was the loss of her voice. Luckily, she found she could steal the voices of others if she killed them first.

THAT'S what made life worthwhile: killing. Azula LOVED the thrill of snapping pathetic human necks-they were STICKS! She REALLY couldn't make each one as slow and as painful as possible, so she wanted to snap as many necks as possible. Before she couldn't anymore.

The problem was, the Doctor was here. Oh, she remembered the Doctor alright: the man who murdered his own people. She didn't know the full details because the Ruler never went into detail, but Azula knew that if she were ever to meet the Doctor, she'd make sure to give him a death he deserved. The problem? She was too fast now. Now she couldn't give him a slow and painful death. Azula HATED that, but she was too prideful to try to discard her Angel powers.

Azula was making her way to the Detention Center where the enemy was 'hiding'. She continued to taunt them with Officer Bob's voice, and she was silently hoping that her message would get through so that she would have an army...

The Doctor dashed over to Lang and took the phone. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and used it on the phone: nothing happened. The Doctor took out the battery of the phone; the message was still coming through. Robin blinked. Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration: he pressed 'End' and the message stopped coming through altogether. Lang called up each of his Officers over the radio to check up on the Angels coming through their phones: the message had stopped coming since one message failed to get through.

"Doctor..."

The Doctor snatched the communicator away from Agent Lang.

"Angel Bob, what can I do for you?"

"... I'm here, Doctor. Please let me in. It's so... cold."

The Doctor shook his head and answered 'Bob'.

"Why can't you get in, Angel Bob? What's preventing you?"

"Nothin's preventin' me, sir. I just want to play some more. The game is: which door am I in front of? The winner gets to be killed by me. Any questions?"

Lang growled and snatched the communicator away from the Doctor.

"Enough games! I'll make sure I kill YOU before you kill anyone else."

The Angel laughed.

"Please put the Doctor back on. I wasn't finished talking to him yet."

Lang glared daggers into the wall.

"... No."

The Angel started taking a serious tone.

"... I said NO. All units! Surround the Detention Center! And, in twos, circle the building looking for a lone stone angel. When you find it, report to me. Because I'll be coming out... And one more thing. If both of you have to blink? Let one blink first, and then the other. You both may not blink at the same time. Understood?"

All responded at the same time.

"Sir!"

The Doctor confronted Lang.

"Agent Lang, this is a Weeping Angel we're dealing with here. Like it or not, you may just have to use the Teen Titans."

Lang roared with laughter.

"I've still got 96 men and women out there Doctor. There aren't that many doors to this building. Granted, there are roughly 20 to this facility... But I've almost got 5 times as many Officers."

Two Officers contacted Lang after 2 minutes passed.

"Found it, sir! It's trying to get in the back entrance!"

Lang grinned.

"Heh... Good work, Lita. And... who's with you?"

"Silent Thom, sir. We're both keeping an eye on it, sir. What do you want us to do?"

The Doctor snatched the communicator away from Lang.

"Just stay there. Do. Not. Blink. Blink and you're dead. Keep an eye on it and we'll be out shortly.

The Doctor turned to Lang.

"So... where's the 'back entrance'?"

Lang swaggered in front of the Doctor and Robin as he lead them to the back entrance.

"... Shouldn't take more than 3 minutes to reach.

Lang took the communicator away from the Doctor again.

"Lita, are you and Silent Thom alright?"

Lita answered almost immediately.

"Yes, sir. Not getting the urge to blink... yet. I've been letting Thom do all his blinking. Can't risk killing us both. How far away are you, sir?"

"Almost 2 minutes away. We'll be with you shortly. Just do as the Doctor says. I'm sorry that the situation is more dangerous now than it has ever been."

"Don't owrry about that, sir. We won't let that Angel escape."

Another minute passed and Lita tried to communicate with Lang again.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but the Angel is on the move. I'm in pursuit of it, but I don't know which direction it went. Thom must've been blinking just as I did, because the next thing I knew, it was gone. I looked around and couldn't see it. Maybe it went to another door because you were getting too close, sir?"

The Doctor snatched the communicator away from Lang and answered Lita.

"Gone? What do you mean the Angel's gone? Weeping Angels never just give up and walk away peaceably. Do you mind sticking by the back door? We'll walk around looking for it together. How does that sound, eh?"

Lang took the communicator from the Doctor. Lita answered the Doctor.

"Sorry, sir. But the Angel is top priority. I must find it all costs before it kills another fellow Officer. I left Silent Thom guarding the back door."

Agent Lang, the Doctor, and Robin reached the back door. When they opened it, they found Silent Thom dead at the feet of the Angel. The Angel was facing the back door and Agent Lang. The Doctor blinked, and walked right up to the statue.

"Hmm... Definitely Weeping Angel... But... Something's different... Ah ha!

The Doctor was pointing at the purple stone that was wrapped around the Angels waist.

"White Point Star. Definitely a big one, but it's not fully grown. This must be one of those 'Elementals'. Thing I don't get is why it's out here letting us catch it... Something isn't adding up..."

Lang had an incoming transmission from another Officer.

"Sir! We found the Weeping Angel, sir!"

Lang growled and answered the Officer.

"So did we! It's at the back entrance... But... Where are you, Officer James?"

The Officer seemed baffled.

"The BACK entrance, sir? You sure that you've got the Weeping Angel? Because we've got one out front. And it's definitely Weeping, sir."

Lang was sweating.

"Out... F-Front...?"

The Doctor turned to Lang and snatched the communicator away from him.

"... Officer Lita, what is your precise location?"

Robin was keeping his eyes on the Weeping Angel in front of them. It was obvious Lang and the Doctor weren't. Lang took the communicator away from the Doctor.

"Agent James, does your Weeping Angel have a stone wrapped around its waist, too?"

"No, sir. It's just... stone."

Lang smirked.

"Heh... It's probably a trick by the Weeping Angel to make us think that it can be in multiple places at once. Officer James, feel free to take your eyes off the statue. It can't kill you, we've got the real one."

Lita finally transmitted a message.

"I'm still circling the building, sir. If you don't believe me, come and see me. Meet me... at the west entrance. But I'm a busy woman, Doctor."

The Doctor turned to Lang.

"Lang, do you have a spare communicator I can use?"

Lang sighed and dug in his pockets and threw the Doctor his spare communicator.

"... Whatever. How do you propose to stop this Angel anyway? You can't leave me here to die."

The Doctor gave a small grin.

"You're not going to die. You have Robin here, and he hasn't been blinkin'. Though, just as a suggestion, you might want to turn to the Weeping Angel before Robin blinks. Good luck."

The Doctor dashed off to find Lita...

The Doctor reached the west entrance. He looked around didn't see anyone or anything. He used Lang's communicator to try and contact Lita.

"Lita... I'm here. Where are you?"

"I'm almost there, Doctor. Just a little delay with having to help some Officer. Anyway, I can see you now. Your back is to me."

The Doctor turned off the communicator.

"... I really liked Lita. She was brilliant and brave, even to the point where she would die. And you KILLED her."

Lita's voice came through the communicator even though it was off.

"... How long have you known?"

The Doctor slowly turned around to face 'Lita'.

"... For as long as you tried to hide your face from me. You looked into the eyes of the Angel, didn't you Lita? There's no other way for the Angel to produce an army big enough to take the Earth. If it tried sending another message through the phone, it knew that I'd stop it. So it decided to do humans one at a time. How many more have you 'converted', Angel Lita?"

Lita answered wholeheartedly.

"Oh, just one more. There's at least 3 of us now. But don't worry, there will be many, many more. You can't stop us."

".................

The Doctor just glared at the stone version of Lita. The stone version had her normal Officer uniform, but she she now had wings protruding from her backside.

"Killing someone I like is not a safe place to stand. I'm giving you and your Angel brothers and sisters the chance to back off and let me find a world for you a place to live peaceably. Take it or leave it."

"This world is so primitive. We may do as we like. I will start by converting you..."

The Doctor shook his head, yet continued to stare at Lita.

"... Don't play games with me. I'm the Doctor. I'm from the planet Gallifrey located in the Constellation of Costalbourus. I've visited Earth many a-time. And I'm telling you right now, I've fought all the invading aliens, and I will do the same with your kind AGAIN. ... Look me up."

Lita didn't answer for a minute. She finally gave an answer.

"I will give you one hour to try and stop us. Throughout the hour, we will do nothing and convert no one else. But should you not succeed... We will continue our assault. You should know right now that there are now 20 of us. You should not have brought so many Officers..."

The Doctor didn't respond and just blinked. When he opened his eyes, Lita was gone. The Doctor frowned and made his way to the Detention Center...

Agent Lang and Robin were in the Detention Center when the Doctor entered it. Robin turned to the Doctor as he came in.

"Doctor! It's gone! Where did the Angel go?"

Lang frowned not seeing Lita behind the Doctor.

"Doctor, where's Lita...?"

The Doctor brushed past them both and walked to the next room.

"Not coming... Sorry. We've got one hour. And I believe I already have our solution... But I'm sorry I have to end it this way. I need enough materials to 'enhance' the gate at the front of the Detention Center. And Robin, I'm going to need your blue-caped friend Raven. She's going to supply the power we need for this to work. Lang, this is what I need from you..."

In just less than hour, the Doctor completed his task. He had Raven fuel the gate with a LOT of power. Raven didn't ask why, the Doctor didn't have time for explanations. She could tell. The Doctor looked at his watch on his wrist. It was about time. When he looked up again, all 20 Angels were in front of him staring at him. Lita spoke for all of them.

"Doctor, we have watched you build your complex contraption. But it is not enough to stop us."

The Doctor didn't answer right away. Instead, he slowly started backing up to the point where he was on the other side of the gateway. He smirked at last.

"Oh, you'd be surprised... Want to know why I hate having to deal with stubborn invading races? It gets boring defeating one after the other... So go on: try me."

The Doctor blinked. Just as he predicted, the Angels tried going for him. But just as he planned, the gate activated itself now that there were Angels under the arch. It formed a huge black swirling vortex that began slowly sucking the Angels into it. Angel Bob started speaking again.

"That won't be enough to stop us, Doctor! Some of us are capable of escaping!"

The original Angel, Azula, was at the back of the line attempting to get away. Yet the Doctor kept his eyes on her for the most part. The Doctor smirked and used his sonic screwdriver on the gate.

"Let's speed things up a little, yeah? I've proven you wrong, Angels Lita and Bob. You said that you'd conquer the Earth. Well... Look at you now."

Eventually, Azula was the only one still not sucked into the gate. The Doctor slowed down the speed so that he could talk to her. But before he could, Azula was getting a bit uncontrollable in her voice. Now it only partly sounded like Officer Bob.

"You can't do this! You KNOW this is genocide! I'm a Weeping Angel! I can't die!"

"... Angel Bob. Who are you? Really?"

Azula didn't answer for a while. She finally gave up knowing that she was beat.

"I am Princess Azula! I'm half Time Lord! The Element Stone granted me the power that I so desperately desired! I can't die! I was supposed to defeat YOU!"

The Doctor icily glared at her as she was almost into the portal.

"Who said anything about killing? It's not how I do things."

"...!"

Angel Azula was pulled into the portal at last. After she was pulled in, a little cube formed on the ground where the portal was open. It was a solid, transparent cube that possessed 20 Weeping Angels in it now. The Doctor walked over and crouched down to pick the cube up. He gave a small grin as he saw all of them floating inside. The Element Stone Azula had could be seen still wrapped around her waist. The Doctor was eyeing it with interest. And he remembered that there were more Stones out there. At least 2 other types, too. And two more Elementals. He stood up, stretched and juggled the cube between his two hands. He let out an exasperated sigh.

"... It's not over yet..."

**TBC**


	9. Count the Shadows

**I'm done with school, but that doesn't mean I can update more frequently. I'll still do the once per week 'episodes', so savor 'em. The final Element Stones are not located on Earth...**

Merc had been trying to find out Azor's whereabouts since he disappeared after Phoenix had found his Element Stone. Things weren't exactly looking good, after all. It was just down to him and Azor. And unless Azor found his Element Stone, they didn't stand much of a chance. At last Merc had managed to establish contact with Azor through his big shield that doubled as a gigantic mirror. Azor sounded... different.

"Sorry 'bout that, pardner. Was busy searchin' for my Element Stone. Them newbs Azula and Phoenix got nothin' on them Titans even with Element Stones."

Merc was irritated that Azor had adopted a more arrogant tone than usual. Azor was almost never arrogant. Merc took a deep breath.

"... Wherefore art thou? Hast thou foundeth thine Element Stone? Why dost thou taketh an arrogant tongue with me?"

Azor was hard to make out even in Merc's 'all-seeing mirror'. Apparently, Azor was in his element and he was enveloped.

"To answer your questions in order: I'm on an abandoned space station that's not too far from the Earth. Yes, I've found my Element Stone. And third, my Element Stone has made me more powerful than you can even imagine."

While Azor spoke, he never moved out of the shadows. Merc was perplexed: why was Azor avoiding showing his physical form to him? His clothes DID look a little more ragged than usual, but that made Merc all the more interested in Azor's face and skin that were not clearly showing in his mirror. Merc shook his head.

"If thou art this prideful, why dost thou not returneth to Earth now? If thou art truly powerful, though shouldst not have much trouble fighting the enemy."

Azor just chuckled.

"Merc, Merc, Merc... I don't want to return to Earth now, I want the Titans to come to ME. I'd have more fun with them up here than anywhere else. If you had any brains, you'd be doing the same: leaving Earth. There're no more Element Stones on Earth, pardner. And now it's time for the final bout between me and the Titans. Yeehaw!"

Merc gritted his teeth.

"SHOWETH THYSELF! Why dost thou cowereth in the darkness!"

Azor LAUGHED at Merc's assertion.

"Pardner, there're two problems with your fancy-shmancy assumptions: one, I am NOT cowering. Two, I'm not in the dark."

Merc shook his head in disbelief.

"But thou art clad in shadows!"

Azor chuckled again.

"People of any species have this irrational fear of the dark. But it's not irrational... it's Vashta Nerada. What you see me COVERED in Merc is NOT shadows, but a swarm. The piranhas of the air. Wanna know why I choose to hid my face...?"

Some shadows shifted and Merc could see Azor's face clearly, it wasn't a pleasant sight: there was absolutely no flesh left. No hair, nothing but skull and bones. Azor let himself be completely seen: he was still wearing his traditional uniform, but it now had holes in it where large segments of bone could be seen. He still had his sombrero on too. Merc stared on in awe: how was this possible? Azor should be DEAD.

"Thou art a FREAK! Thou shouldst be DEAD!"

Azor laughed, but his jaw didn't move.

"Pardner, the Element Stone worked WONDERS on me. It might seem like I'm dead and that this is in no way a benefit to me at ALL... But I assure you: as surely as the sun rises or sets, I've become more powerful than ever. The Stone gave me the power to control vast swarms of the Vashta Nerada... And because this is in fact an abandoned station, it makes it the ideal place to infest with my swarm. I can't infest every shadow, but any shadow."

Merc broke off communication with Azor. He was FURIOUS at him. The Vashta Nerada were to be FEARED, and here Azor was in complete control of them! Merc would not sleep tonight...

Meanwhile, the Doctor had been pinpointing the location of the third Element Stone in his TARDIS. The Titans were waiting outside to be told where to go. The Doctor found it to be somewhere beyond Earth's atmosphere. He rushed out to tell them.

"Alright then, you lot. It looks like we'll be takin' a little trip. The third Stone's out in space somewhere, so come on."

The Titans were about to get in the TARDIS when...

"NOT SO FAST!

Lang and about 4 Officers in space suits showed up.

"We located that rock too, Doctor. And space isn't a place for hooligans to run amok in."

The Doctor sighed and waved his arms.

"Agent Lang, I'd REALLY prefer it if you and your lot stayed on Earth. Thing is, I don't want anyone else DEAD. And there has to be a reason as to why this Element Stone's not on Earth yet, and I want to figure that out."

Agent Lang snapped his fingers and his 4 Officers forced themselves into the TARDIS.

"I don't care, Doctor. I have a duty to protect the Earth from these invading aliens. If you stop me and my Officers from coming... I'll arrest you for obstruction of justice! So... come on, then. I'll even let you bring your hooligans with you. The more the merrier."

Agent Lang wolfishly grinned and swaggered into the TARDIS. The Doctor sighed and motioned for the Titans to get in. The TARDIS dematerialized...

The TARDIS materialized on the abandoned space station. Agent Lang and his Officers were out first. Followed by the Titans in space suits that Doctor offered them. And lastly the Doctor. The Doctor came out without a space suit and took a breath of air.

"Hmm... Looks like there's oxygen in this place after all. Alright you lot, allon-z. We have to locate that Stone on this station... So let's split up and be careful."

The Titans that were wearing helmets took them off as did the Officers and Agent Lang. Agent Lang turned to his subordinates.

"Ms. Evangelista, you're our scout. Good luck. The rest of us will wait here patiently for your return."

Ms. Evangelista had long flowing black hair. She nodded and left to scout out the place without a word. The Doctor was surprised Agent Lang hadn't sent out all of his Officers at once. He had taken out his sonic screwdriver to look for abnormalities in the station, but he dropped it by accident. When he bent down to pick it up, he looked down and saw that a rather large shadow was casting from it. His eyes widened and he slapped his forehead.

"Oh! Look at me! I'm OLD AND THICK! I NEED A BIGGER HEAD! Agent Lang, you should call Ms. Evangelista back RIGHT NOW. We're in more danger than I thought we were!"

Agent Lang was about to make a smug remark when a scream was heard. Agent Lang and his Officers proceeded to run towards her location along with the Doctor and the Titans. They reached the next room where they thought they heard her scream, but she was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the only interesting thing in the room was a skeleton with a torn space suit. Agent Lang used the communicator that was at the base of his neck. All the space suits had them on that area.

"Ms Evangelista... Please state your current...

Agent Lang's voice echoed in the room.

"Please state your current... position...?"

Agent Lang looked down at the skeleton and widened his eyes. The skeleton had a communicator around its neck too. The Doctor shook his head sorrowfully.

"... I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry..."

The only other female Officer was confused.

"But... We just heard her scream a few seconds ago! What could've eaten her in the few seconds that took us to get here?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"I assure you that it took a LOT less than a few seconds."

Agent Lang growled.

"Doctor... What exactly are we dealing with here...?"

The Doctor nodded.

"... I'll introduce you..."

They all went back into the room they were first in. Robin was a little suspicious.

"Doctor...? Is it just me, or is it a bit darker in here...?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"... It's not getting dark. They're just getting closer and closer...

The Doctor noticed that his sonic screwdriver didn't have a large shadow attached to it anymore. He walked over and picked it up. He took a flashlight out of his pocket.

"... Alright then... Let's all meet the Vashta Nerada... And all of you... While I find a swarm, get this area lit up. Please. Once an area of light is established, stay in it. Stay away from the shadows."

A circle of light was formed around all of them. The Doctor eventually found a swarm.

"... Got a live one! Watch this...

The Doctor took a chicken leg from his pocket and tossed it into the shadows. Immediately after it entered the shadows, it was all bone. The Doctor turned to the group.

"... The piranhas of the air... They strip the flesh until there's nothing left. The Vashta Nerada usually hunt in forests. I've NEVER seen an infestation on such a MASSIVE scale. Which means that this is the cause of that third Element Stone. The key to living from an assault from the Vashta Nerada is to count the shadows. I know it sounds weird, but it will save your life."

Agent Lang roared with laughter enjoying the intensity of they situation.

"Alright, men! I want that Stone found! We have to be careful, of course. I want you all to have a 'circle of light' surrounding you wherever you go! That means multiple flashlights!"

"Sir!"

The Doctor watched as they were all about to move into action. That's when he noticed something very, very bad.

"Actually, ah...

He slowly walked over to the Officer he was addressing.

"'Scuse me, but... What's your name?"

"Dave, sir. But there's two Daves in our group, so I'm Proper Dave because I came first."

The Doctor nodded.

"Right. Ah, Proper Dave... I'm very sorry... But... You've got two shadows.

Dave looked down and yelped. The Doctor calmed him down before he could panic.

"... Dave. Just tell me where you helmet is. Stay absolutely still. Don't point, just tell me where you put it."

Dave swallowed nervously.

"... On the floor. By my bag."

An Officer handed the Doctor Proper Dave's helmet. As the Doctor put Dave's helmet on for him, Agent Lang barked orders to his other two Officers and the Titans.

"... Fine. Everyone put their helmets back on and make sure they're airtight so that the Vashta Nerada can't get in and eat you!"

The Doctor turned to Agent Lang.

"... I'm not sure that this will do much good, actually. Hopefully we can get everyone out of here before anyone else is killed..."

The Doctor turned back to Proper Dave and was astonished. Proper Dave seemed happy enough, however.

"I just look around once and just one shadow! See!"

While he was saying this happily, Proper Dave was turning himself around. The Doctor stopped him just as Proper Dave had his back to him.

"Wait, wait, wait... They never just leave, they never give up, and they're never just gone... The Vashta Nerada moved... But WHERE...? ... Did you feel an energy transfer? Anything at all?"

"No! I think they left me!"

The Doctor crouched down and used his sonic screwdriver trying to find any Vashta Nerada nearby. Proper Dave sounded scared again.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights? Turn them back on!"

Agent Lang shook his head.

"They ARE on!"

Proper Dave was still scared.

"I can't see a bloody thing!"

The Doctor stood up and spoke to Proper Dave calmly.

"Dave... Turn around..."

Proper Dave turned around and spoke nervously. The Doctor couldn't see Proper Dave's face anymore: it was all black in the suit, meaning the Vashta Nerada got in.

"What's going on? Why can't I see? Is the power gone? Are we safe here?"

The Doctor tried to calm him down.

"Dave. I want you to stay still. ABSOLUTELY STILL.

Proper Dave began to shake a little in his suit. The Doctor began to get worried.

"Dave! Dave talk to me!"

Proper Dave stopped shaking and stood perfectly still. He spoke again.

"... I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm-I'm fine."

The Doctor held out one hand.

"Just stay still..."

"I'm fine... I'm okay... I'm-I'm fine. I can't... Why... can't I? I can't... Why can't I? I... can't... I can't... Why can't I?"

Robin spoke up.

"... Are you sure he's fine? He's just repeating the same thing over and over!"

The Doctor hung his head sorrowfully.

"... He's gone. What you're hearing now is his last thoughts right before he died. The Vashta Nerada have the capability of projecting these thoughts, but they rarely do it..."

The Doctor raised his head again as Agent Lang raised a very good question.

"If he's dead, then why's he still standing...?"

Proper Dave spoke again.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

The Doctor took a step closer to Proper Dave. Raven tried to stop him.

"Doctor, don't...!"

The Doctor tried speaking to Proper Dave.

"Dave... can you hear me...?"

As soon as the Doctor was close enough, Proper Dave leaned forward and clutched the Doctor's shoulders strongly. The Doctor kneeled in pain and the others stepped back astonished. The Doctor watched as Proper Dave's skull could clearly be seen in the helmet's visor.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

Agent Lang took out a taser and dashed forward to taser 'Proper Dave'. Proper Dave let go of the Doctor and the Doctor fell backwards and crawled backwards away from Proper Dave. The others began to run out of the room with the Doctor being the last one out. Proper Dave began to walk after them.

"Everyone get back! It's a swarm in a suit! ... But it's learning!"

Proper Dave's one shadow turned into five individual ones that were facing forward instead of behind him. Robin called out to the Doctor.

"Doctor! What do we do? Where do we go?"

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?

The Doctor just ran. He didn't have a plan. They had a very small chance of survival, but he didn't care. Eventually he caught up to the others and they ran together. 'Proper Dave' was still walking after them.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

The Doctor managed to get them into another room with enough light to last them for awhile. He locked the door behind him and panted.

"Honestly Robin... I have no clue."

Proper Dave could be heard not too far away. He was getting closer and closer to their locked door.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

The Doctor silently hoped that he could come up with a plan to save the remaining survivors...

**TBC**


	10. The Home of the Vashta Nerada

**Here's Part 2. Part 2 goes real fast... But I like it.**

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

The Doctor was looking wildly about for an exit from the room. Proper Dave had reached the door and was trying to get into the room. Agent Lang ended up finding the exit for them.

"Over here! Doctor! What's the plan?"

The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair thinking as quickly as possible.

"Umm... We might be able to stop the Vashta Nerada from attacking us by locating that Element Stone and stop whoever's using it from using it. If that doesn't work, we're going to have to ignite them."

Agent Lang looked skeptical.

"... 'Ignite' them? And how do you plan to do thaaaaat?"

The Doctor began to run ahead of them. He screeched to a halt.

"Right, so. We're going to need to split up. Because I'm the only one who can possibly craft a device that can ignite the Vashta Nerada, I'll be the head of one group. Titans, I'm sure you can handle yourselves. Go and locate the source that's controlling the Vashta Nerada and steal the Element Stone from him or her. Sadly, that won't make the Vashta Nerada disappear. Which is why I have to ignite them if they choose to continue to attack us. We'll all meet up back at the TARDIS if everything goes well. Agent Lang, remaining Officers... with me!"

The Titans were the first out of the room, followed by the Doctor and Agent Lang, and finally Lang's two Officers...

The Doctor ran into what looked like a gift shop.

"Perfect! Love a little shop..."

As the Doctor began poking around looking for parts he could use, Agent Lang and his Officers sat down on their helmets in a lit area. The female Officer addressed Agent Lang.

"Agent Lang, are you sure we'll be okay? I mean, we're dealing with something that's a LOT like piranha. And they're not limited to water."

Agent Lang nodded.

"Of COURSE we'll be fine, Anita! The Doctor said he has the capability to build a machine that can ignite the Vashta Nerada! But I DO think we're a little limited on time. Right, Doctor!"

The Doctor was rummaging through a cupboard.

"Mmm...? Eh? What was that? Yeah, we're limited on time. The Vashta Nerada are aggressive. There's no telling how aggressive their controller is though, they could become more aggressive if the Stone is taken away and 'turned off'. Don't worry though, we'll get out alive. Trust me."

The Doctor closed the cupboard and dashed over to a counter with drawers and began rummaging around in them. The other Dave, the one that wasn't dead, spoke up.

"But... These things ate Miss Evangelista and Proper Dave. Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me I'll live?"

The Doctor slammed the drawers in frustration not finding what he wanted. He dashed over to another area. He was still paying attention to them though.

"Dave, I'm going to need you to trust me. There's not much else you can do at this point. You can be suspicious of me all you want, but it won't get us anywhere! If you don't everyone to die, Dave, I suggest you just trust me and do exactly as I say. Staying out of the shadows has kept you alive, yes?"

Dave shrugged.

"Well... Yeah, I guess... But Proper Dave..."

Agent Lang growled at Dave and Dave stopped trying to complain. The Doctor came out of the shop and into the lit area with an armful of supplies.

"Alright then you lot... Gonna need you to help me here to speed up our escape."

With the Titans...

The Titans had been going through numerous dark corridors trying to locate the source. They kept the area around themselves lit at all times by Cyborg and Starfire. Robin screeched to a halt in front of an open doorway. It was dark inside the room and it was hard to tell what was in it. The other Titans just ran past it without a thought. Robin yelled after them.

"GUYS! I think we may have found it!"

The other Titans ran back to Robin and peered into the room. They couldn't see into the room very well either. Cyborg turned to Robin.

"Uh... You sure, Rob? It looks like there's nothin' in there."

Robin nodded and glared into the darkness.

"I'm almost positive... Try turning that big light of yours into the room, Cy."

Cyborg did as Robin said...

The Doctor, after five minutes constructing the device with Agent Lang and the two Officers, leaped up excitedly.

"There we go! Now... We've got to find the heart of the ship. Because once there, we'll be able to vent this...

The Doctor patted the container of the little 'gun' he held.

"Into the ventilation system and kill all the Vashta Nerada on the ship. ... If we absolutely HAVE to."

Agent Lang looked at the Doctor quizzically.

"But we HAVE to, Doctor! Er... Don't we...?"

The Doctor shook his head and pocketed the newly created device.

"... Not before giving them a choice. I have to give them a choice. It's how I've always dealt with threats."

Anita sounded a bit nervous.

"Um... Doctor...? Agent Lang...?"

Agent Lang sighed.

"What is it, Anita...? Make it quick! We have to make our way to the heart of the ship NOW! And it better be important..."

Anita nodded as she was looking down.

"It-It is important... I've got two shadows."

The Doctor, Agent Lang, and Officer Dave immediately looked at Anita: she did indeed have two shadows. Agent Lang clapped his hands.

"Helmets on everyone! Chop! Chop!"

Anita sounded very scared as the Doctor placed her helmet on for her.

"It didn't do Proper Dave any good..."

The Doctor nodded.

"Hold on..."

He took out his sonic screwdriver and used it on the visor. It now looked darker and nobody could see what was inside. Agent Lang began to sweat.

"No... They got inside!"

The Doctor shook his head.

"No, no, no... I just tinted her visor. Maybe they'll think they're already in there and leave her alone."

Agent Lang sounded skeptical.

"You think they can be fooled like that...?"

The Doctor shrugged and bent down to look at Anita's shadows.

"Maybe, I don't know... It's a swarm! No time for chat!"

Dave spoke to Anita.

"Can you still see in there...?"

Anita nodded.

"Just about!"

The Doctor held up his hand to Dave.

"Just stay back...

The Doctor motioned to Agent Lang to bend down.

"Agent Lang... How many of us are there total that are still alive and are in our group? Four?"

Agent Lang nodded.

"Yeah... What about it?"

The Doctor turned to look beyond Dave.

"So... Why are there five?"

They all turned around to see 'Proper Dave' standing there.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

The Doctor turned around again and began running out the only exit for them.

"RUN!"

Agent Lang, Dave, and Anita ran after the Doctor. Proper Dave still walked after them...

When Cyborg aimed his light into the room, the shadows seemed to shift as if they were moving away from the light. Azor could clearly be seen now, all bones, no flesh. He chuckled.

"'Bout time you Titans got here... I was getting worried that you'd never reach me before my Vashta Nerada ate you for lunch."

Raven's eyes began glowing.

"It's over, Azor... You had your fun, but now it's time to give it up."

Azor laughed.

"I don't care, bambina. The Vashta Nerada are getting more and more out of control. Take my Stone, and any hope you have of survival will be obliterated. But... I can help you. I am well aware of the dangers of fighting the Vashta Nerada... Just look at me! I'm BASICALLY dead! The Vashta Nerada are uncompromising! They won't stop till you're all dead!"

Robin didn't believe Azor.

"Why should we believe you? You could kill us!"

Azor sounded disappointed.

"... Robin. If I wanted to kill you, I would have already done it. The Vashta Nerada choose who to kill now, I can barely tell them who NOT to kill. Believe me, you're going to need all the help you can get."

Robin pinched the bridge of his nose.

"... Okay. But any sign of betrayal and you're REALLY going to get a wake-up call from Raven. Got it?"

Despite being only bone, Azor nodded and slowly made his way over to the Titans.

"... Deal. Now... Let's get to the heart of the ship. That's where the Doctor's headed and I think everyone should be reunited..."

The Doctor, Agent Lang, Anita, and Dave ran through a pair of doors. They swung closed after they entered the corridor. The Doctor screeched to a halt and turned to the doorway.

"Agent Lang, go ahead and locate the teleport that leads to the main control room of this space station. I'll catch up with you later."

Agent Lang shook his head in his helmet.

"It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit! You can't reason with it!"

The Doctor held up 5 fingers.

"Five minutes!"

Agent Lang turned to Dave.

"Other Dave! Stay with him! Pull him out when he's too stupid to live! Two minutes, Doctor!"

Agent Lang held up two fingers and dashed after Anita. The Doctor and Dave watched as 'Proper Dave' came through the double doors.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

The Doctor walked over to him a little but made sure to not get too close.

"Hear that? Those words? That is the very last thought of the man who wore that suit before you climbed inside and stripped his flesh! That's a man's SOUL and you're forcing it to stay in that suit!

Proper Dave continued advancing on the Doctor, but the Doctor and Dave continued to back up. The Doctor held up his hands peaceably.

"Now, if you don't have the decency to let him go, how about this? Use him... to talk to me. Easy, oral relay: just point and think."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

The Doctor continued backing up.

"The Vashta Nerada don't tend to pop up anywhere they like, they're USUALLY found in forests! Tell me what you're doing on a SPACE STATION."

Other Dave called out to the Doctor as they continued to back up.

"We should go, Doctor!"

"In a minute! I understand that you're being controlled right now, but how did you travel across SPACE to get here? Like all other organisms, you can't breathe in space! So HOW did you get here? Just tell me how!"

Proper Dave's suit began to move a little as if the Vashta Nerada were moving inside it. Proper Dave had stopped advancing all together.

"We... did not..."

The Doctor grinned.

"Oh... hello..."

"We... did not..."

"Take it easy, you'll get the hang of it... Did not what?"

"We... did not... come here..."

The Doctor shook his head.

"Of course you came here!"

The Vashta Nerada moved around some more in the suit.

"We come... FROM here..."

The Doctor was baffled.

"FROM here...?"

"Ordinary shadows... enveloped the Darkness Stone and we were born... We... killed... the original crew... That is why this station is abandoned... They were... DISSECTING us... This... is... our... home...!"

The Doctor shook his head.

"I'm sorry... But you can't just KILL whomever you like... Even if they were dissecting you... This was THEIR space station, not yours..."

"They... were... HURTING... us...!"

"We should go, Doctor!"

The Doctor opened his mouth in dismay.

"Ah... Then the dissecting wasn't for knowledge's sake... It was for survival purposes... A million, million angry microspores just sitting here in an abandoned space station... waiting to be discovered once again..."

"Then... HE came... and tried to... CONTROL us...!"

"We should go, Doctor!"

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair and looked about the corridor horrified.

"A million, million angry, vengeful microspores... still in complete control of themselves... And I sent a group of kids trying to find the source..."

"We should go, Doctor!"

The Doctor turned to Other Dave just realizing what may have happened. And he was right: Other Dave's face couldn't be seen in his visor.

"Oh... Dave... I'm SO sorry..."

The Vashta Nerada moved so Other Dave's skull could be seen.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"We should go, Doctor!"

They were both advancing on the Doctor now. The Doctor shook his head and took out a small device.

"Oh, look at me... I'm stupid. Always talk too much. Babbling on and on and on. Never wanna stop for anything. Wanna know the reason why I'm still alive?

Both Daves were almost to him as he held up his small device.

"Short range teleport! Always have a way out, just in case!"

The Doctor pushed a button and he teleported to the nearest teleport...

The Titans, Azor, Agent Lang, and Officer Anita reached the teleport to the main control room of the ship at the same time. Then the Doctor teleported in.

"Hey! Everyone's here! Good. Now, I need everyone to get back to the TARDIS. We're almost done, I just have one or two more things that I need to do... Hop on, everyone!"

The Titans all hopped on and the Doctor teleported them into the TARDIS. The Doctor turned to Agent Lang.

"Right! You and Officer Anita and...

The Doctor turned to Azor.

"Oh... It's YOU! Finally got what you deserved, eh? The Vashta Nerada CAN'T be controlled!"

Azor nodded.

"... I know this now, Doctor. But now is not the time to point fingers. I am coming with you to make sure the Vashta Nerada don't eat you! They can be in that room you know!"

The Doctor shrugged.

"Mmm... Okay. You can come. But you two...

The Doctor turned to Agent Lang and Officer Anita.

"Really should get back to the TARDIS. I don't want to risk anymore lives..."

Agent Lang shook his head.

"... I have a duty to see this operation through. I don't want to risk the lives of future explorers of this vessel! Even if it isn't in Earth's jurisdiction!"

The Doctor turned to Officer Anita.

"And you...?"

"Wherever Agent Lang goes, I go!"

The Doctor nodded.

"... Fine! Let's go!"

All 4 climbed into the teleport and they reappeared in the main control room. The Doctor immediately ran over to some controls and began plugging in his device that he, Agent Lang and his two Officers created. The Doctor then began pulling Agent Lang toward the teleport.

"Now... Just stand here and be ready to teleport, alright? I've got a short range teleport of my own. It's powerful enough that it can get me back to the TARDIS. So don't worry about me..."

Agent Lang realized just what he was doing.

"Officer Anita! Keep an eye on the Doctor! If he dies, I'll kill him!"

The Doctor activated the teleport once again and Agent Lang was sent back to the TARDIS. The Doctor clapped his hands together and ran back over to his device that was almost hooked up to the space station. Officer Anita began talking again.

"So what about the Vashta Nerada?"

The Doctor began using his sonic screwdriver on his device.

"This is their home! I'm not going to take that away from them! ... Provided they let us leave alive..."

Officer Anita sounded skeptical.

"... You're going to make them an offer?"

The Doctor continued using his sonic screwdriver on his device.

"They'd better take it! Because right now I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all... Know why...?

The Doctor turned to Officer Anita. Already knowing for some time now that she's had one shadow.

"... I really liked Anita. She was brave. Even when she was crying. And you ATE her.

The visor seemed to un-tint itself showing Anita's skull.

"... But I'm going to let that pass... Just as long as you let them pass."

Azor was standing there the whole time. He couldn't believe how calm the Doctor was. The Vashta Nerada spoke.

"How long have you known...?"

The Doctor walked over to Anita.

"I counted the shadows... You only have one now. Please... Let her go. Be kind."

The Vashta Nerada didn't seem to want to comply to the Doctor's command.

"This is our home... We are not kind."

The Doctor began to speak more harshly.

"I am giving you BACK your home. You are giving me them... You are letting them go."

As the Doctor walked back over to adjusting his device, Anita held up her hand pointing it at the Doctor.

"This is our home... They are our meat..."

Shadows in the room began to move away from Anita's. It had turned into four shadows and they were advancing on the Doctor. The Doctor yelled at the Vashta Nerada.

"Don't play games with me! You just killed someone I like, that is NOT a safe place to stand!

The Vashta Nerada continued to advance on him.

"I'm the Doctor and this space station still has a databank in it that links it to the rest of the galaxy. ... Look me up."

The Vashta Nerada stopped. The shadows returned to Anita.

"... You have 3 minutes."

Anita collapsed; the Vashta Nerada had left the suit. The Doctor was about to disassemble his device when he was forcibly dragged over to the teleport. The Doctor looked to see Azor at the controls to the teleport as he was in it.

"No, no, no! What are you doing? I said I'd spare them!"

Azor turned to the Doctor.

"... Do you really think they'd spare you, Doctor? At least this way they can't kill anyone else."

The Doctor shook his head wildly.

"NO! AZOR! You'll KILL yourself!"

Azor laughed and raised his arms.

"Look at me and tell me I'm not dead, Doctor. I might as well do something worthwhile. After all, I'll be saving a FULL TIME LORD. I'm only HALF Time Lord. And that's not a life worth living. I'm tired, Doctor. Tired of living. At least let me put myself out of my own misery."

The Doctor was beginning to stand up.

"Azor, PLEASE DON'T!"

Azor held up his hand in defiance.

"Doctor, it's okay! There's still one more 'Elemental' out there waiting to fight you! Just because I don't want to kill you doesn't mean I like you! Let me finish what I started! 3...

The Doctor was about to leap off the teleport but he was teleported out the instant he attempted to. Back in the control room, Azor slowly walked over to the device hooked up to the station.

"2...

Azor moved his hand until it was over the switch.

"1..."

Azor flipped the switch and the air in the ship ignited. Which meant that the station caught fire, which meant it exploded. The TARDIS had dematerialized the moment that the Doctor had teleported into the TARDIS. The Doctor pounded the floor of the TARDIS angry with himself: he couldn't save Azor. He couldn't save Anita, he couldn't save either Dave, and he couldn't save Miss Evangelista. He saved the Titans and Agent Lang, but 4 humans died. The Doctor was shaken out of his self-pity when the TARDIS seemed to have rammed into something. He stood up completely and ran over to the TARDIS console.

"What's going on? Ooh... That is very, extremely not good... HOLD ON TIGHT!"

The next thing everyone knew: there was a bright light, the TARDIS continued shaking, and then... nothing...

**TBC**


	11. Welcome to the Future

**We're getting near the end. Just 5 more Chapters including this one. I've had an idea or two going for awhile now with Merc, but over time my ideas for him have changed. That's why I chose him to be the last Elemental. Well, this should be fun... R&R.**

Robin woke up. When he did, he found himself to be... nowhere. Nowhere at all. All Robin could see was black in all directions. He could see himself strangely enough, even though there was no source of light anywhere. Soon enough, Merc's voice could be heard.

"And now doth I turneth my attention to you... Robin. Thy friends are truly concerned about thee. But they beeth in the same amount of danger as thee... Thou have all been transported with thy future selves to a sort of... dream world. But! One of thy future selves beeth a fake! Findeth the fake before thy hour is up... or thou wilt die. All of thee must be in agreement on who beeth the fake. If thou cannot reacheth an agreement, then the game starteth over once more. If thou art in agreement with thy friends and thou picketh one that beeth not a fake, then that Titan wilt die but the rest of thee will be released from the game. Chooseth wisely, ne'er-do-wells! Bwahahaha!"

Robin shielded his eyes as there was another bright flash of light...

Beast Boy woke up in a trashy-looking room. He was aware of the game he was playing, so he looked about for his future self that Merc said would be here. He moved onto the next room once he knew he was the only one there.

"Helllloooo... Anyone here...? Heeellllooo...

Beast Boy eventually reached some sort of lobby. Beast Boy walked over to the front desk and rang the little bell on it continuously.

"C'moooon! Somebody be here! I hate being alone...

Beast Boy sat down on the floor exasperatedly when it seemed like no one was coming. That's when he saw the name of the building on the front of the desk.

"... Huh. Compton Castles. Must be some sort of hotel... Not a particularly great name..."

Beast Boy jumped when he heard a voice behind him.

"You're tellin' me! And I LIVE here, pal!"

When Beast Boy turned, he saw a six foot tall man wearing a green trench coat. His tie was brown, and his pants were black. He had black hair, a little goatee beginning to grow, and a bandage on his left cheek. The man WASN'T green, and he looked REALLY weary and tired. The man was grinning at him, however.

"Wh-Who are you?" Beast Boy asked. Gumshoe just chuckled.

"Welll... After I lost my powers and my green skin, I decided against using the name 'Garfield Logan'. Sooo... I go by the name Dick Gumshoe now, pal. I'm a Detective," Gumshoe chuckled some more and looked at Beast Boy intensely. "Hmm... I don't think I ever really saw myself before... Boy, I'm glad I'm not a stick anymore... But I do wish I had enough money to afford better living arrangements... But at least I'm still kickin'... Ho ho ho..."

Beast Boy rubbed his eyes and shook his head amazed.

"YOU'RE ME? But... You're not GREEN!"

Gumshoe patted Beast Boy on the head.

"Ha ha! I said I lost my powers and my green skin, pal! All the Titans lost their powers after that day..." Gumshoe looked remorseful. Then he just shrugged. "Well, we'd better get outta here. Supposedly this is a dream, so we should be able to find the others with ease... C'mon!"

Gumshoe helped Beast Boy up and they walked out of the hotel together...

Starfire opened her eyes. She thought the room that she was in looked like some type of office. She got up off the floor and began floating around.

"Hello? Is anyone here...?"

Starfire floated into the next room. The room had a receptionist's desk, so Starfire still had no idea where she was. After a couple of minutes of glancing around the room, the door across from Starfire opened and a beautiful young woman stepped through it. She shot Starfire a genuine smile and closed the door behind her.

"Hello, Starfire. It's nice to actually see myself! I had no idea what I'd do without my alien powers..."

Starfire blinked as the woman sort of just began talking to herself.

"Um... Excuse me, but are you my... older self?" Starfire asked innocently. "Our enemy Merc said we'd be meeting our future selves..."

The woman gave a light-hearted laugh.

"Yes Starfire, I'm the future you. In the future, all of the Titans will lose their powers. I don't want to say how, but because we lost all of our powers, we all had to look for ordinary jobs as adults. I believe all of us went off to college, even Beast Boy. We didn't really stay in touch, I think Robin's the only one who's stayed in touch with all of us. Because Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven can't be put on a resume, we had to change our names. Sure, some of us had names to begin with, but we all decided to change our names so that we couldn't be followed by our fans all over the world. I chose the name Mia Fey and became a defense attorney."

Starfire clapped her hands gleefully.

"Oooh! How fascinating! You will have to tell me ALL that I will get to do!"

Mia shook her head and frowned.

"Uh huh... Later, Starfire. We need to first find the others and ascertain which of the future selves of your friends is the fake. We only have 50 swift minutes until we have to make a choice..."

Starfire's eyes bulged.

"Yes! We must! Come, new friend!"

Starfire dragged Mia forcefully out the door...

Cyborg woke up to a pretty old man observing him. Er, at least Cyborg thought he was. It was kinda hard to tell with the man staring into the mirror he was holding. The man spoke after Cyborg began getting up.

"Hmm... Looks like you're finally awake... Time to get down to business then..."

The man pocketed his mirror and Cyborg finally got a good look at the man: he had gray hair, a really worn out grey trench coat with a ton of bullet holes, a well built body, black pants, black shirt, white tie, and... a sucker? The man took the sucker out of his mouth and looked at Cyborg straight in the eye. His eyes looked like they had seen so much. Cyborg stood up and stretched. He was about the same size as the man... Could he really be...?

"Uh... Not to sound rude or anything... But do you happen to be my 'future self' that Merc said I'd be running into...? I mean, you're not really convincin' since you're not made of metal..."

The man brought out his mirror again and stared into it disinterested with Cyborg's question. He flicked away his sucker's stick now that it was done.

"... Hmph. Of course I am. All the Titans lost their powers. With me being one of the last few Titans with 'powers', I decided to have a surgery that turned me completely human... That way it was fair and I didn't have to save the world alone... I still wanted to partly fight crime, so I became a detective. I've been a detective for a good while now, and I have reached the point where I have become a well seasoned veteran. These bullet holes... are a testament to that fact."

Cyborg slowly nodded.

"Hmm... But why's your skin so deathly pale? My skin's darker than yours..."

The man shrugged.

"Eh, when I had that surgery done, I had the color of my skin changed too. All they had in terms of color of skin was white, and I didn't want to be half white half black. You got a problem with that...?"

The man pocketed his mirror and looked like he was fishing around inside his trench coat for his gun as he glared at Cyborg. Cyborg held up his hand peaceably.

"N-No! Not at all! I-I look better with white! Eh heh!"

The man stopped fishing around and pulled out another sucker. Cyborg's eyes bulged: the man tricked him! The man put it in his mouth after discarding the wrapper.

"... Hmph. Whatever. ... Tyrell Badd. Homicide."

Cyborg raised his one eyebrow.

"Um... What...?"

Badd pulled out his mirror again.

"... All the Titans changed their names after losing their powers. Some had a name to begin with, but none stuck with their original name. But... we should really be focusing on the task at hand... finding... the fake... among your friends' future selves... I want to retire..."

Cyborg raised his eyebrow again at him as they both began walking out of the room they were in...

Raven was the next to wake up. Raven surmised that she was in some courthouse. The reason being that the portrait hanging above the couch she was on was of a judge. Raven sighed and stood up. She didn't know where she would go. Supposedly she was to run into her future self at some point, Raven hoped she would remain the same. But that was too much to hope for as she heard what she believed to be her future self.

"Mu... phwwwh... My, my, my! I haven't seen me look like THAT for awhile! Why so serious? Ah ha!"

Raven glared at her future self: she was still as white as a ghost, but she had her hair done differently and it was black. Her uniform was all blue, and she had a defense attorney's badge on her lapel. Raven shuddered at the thought of being this... STUPID. Already she was starting to loathe what she would become.

"So... You're my future self? This... is beyond dismal... You'd... better be the fake..."

The woman stopped laughing and looked serious.

"Ahem. I'm sorry. But I'm NOT the fake. I can recall all of your past if you'd like, I am most certainly your real future self. All the Titans lost their powers and became ordinary humans. Not having to pay attention to my emotions, I just decided to let my emotions 'roam free'. I decided to become a defense attorney just like Starfire. Cyborg and Beast Boy became detectives... and Robin... Well... I'll leave that to your imagination! Ah ha! He was one of the Titans without powers, but he decided to just give up being a vigilante. Couldn't take being on his own. But anyway... I quite enjoy being... phwwwh... happy! Ah ha ha!"

Raven twitched. She was doomed...

Robin was the last one to wake up. When he did, he found himself to be in sort of mansion. When he tried to get up off the bed he was in, he was stopped.

"Now, now, now, now, now! Please, lay down for a little longer, Robin my boy! You're young and need all the rest you can get for the daunting challenge ahead for you and your friends!"

Robin looked up at the sound of the voice. The man addressing him looked like an old man and he had stacks of cash in all the numerous pockets in the clothes he was wearing. He was bald save for the white hair on both sides of his head. Robin blinked and just got off the bed.

"Er... I'm sorry, but Merc said we only had an hour to find that fake future self... and I really need to get to work..."

The man held up his hands peaceably and nodded.

"Now, now, now... I know what we have to do, Robin my boy... But wouldn't it be better if you just took a nap? One day you're going to become me, Ernest Amano, a wealthy man in retirement. A man with connections. All of the Titans lost their powers and were forced to get ordinary jobs as adults. The girls of your team, er, Raven and Starfire, became defense attorneys, and the boys, Cyborg and Beast Boy, became detectives. I inherited a quite a bit of Bruce Wayne's fortune, so I didn't really need a job. But I suppose... we have to find that fake future self posthaste, Robin my boy! We have 45 more minutes... So let us hurry!"

Robin sighed. He didn't like what he would become...

"Yes... Mr. Amano..."

**TBC**


	12. Awakening Reality

**Time for Part 2... Might have another update by the end of the week just 'cause I feel like it. Feel like I've been rushin' things a bit, so I'll try to slow down. I know I'm not a great writer, but I'd like some feedback if you feel there's any to give... **

Merc was sitting in a chair arrogantly looking through 5 individual mirrors. He had the utmost confidence that the Titans would fail, the battle was his to win. He felt embarrassed being a part of a team that had failed in bringing down the Titans. Honestly, it was child's play. All it took was a tactical mind and the resources. However, the team that he had assembled all those years ago OBVIOUSLY wasn't fit for tactics and strategy.

Oh, how he LOATHED having to be associated with those fools. He was the only true warrior in the whole group. Phoenix had been a naive gangster who couldn't control his powers when Merc had found him, and Merc managed to turn him into a veteran 'warrior' despite not having the proper temperament. Azula had been a snobbish princess that barely had control of her power of turning into a monster, and who do you think was the one who helped her regulate her transformations and control her inner monster? Merc. And last, but certainly NOT least, there was AZOR. Azor had been a suicidal assasin when Merc found HIM. He had complete control of HIS powers, but he just didn't think there was anything to live for. Merc helped him change his mind a bit, but Azor still had those suicidal tendencies even among the Elementals. Yes, Merc loathed his 'family' that he had created, but now they were all gone and he had to do everything himself. While his 'family' had wasted their time playing, MERC was the one doing all the work...

Merc tapped a finger on his armrest. A row of buttons appeared on the armrest and Merc flipped the only switch. He looked at the mirror in the middle: it showed the Doctor and Agent Lang, both unconscious, in an empty, locked room. Merc smirked. Separating the Titans from the smart one was the right thing to do. Without the Doctor, the Titans wouldn't know how to fight him. He liked that. Merc turned his attention back to the Titans. Already they were starting to gather and determine which one was the fake. Merc thought it would be appropriate to appear before them, so he did. Merc pressed a button and a hologram of a very different looking man appeared in the mirror right next to Robin. This man looked fairly young, and he spoke normal, British english. Merc thought it wise to send a version of him that the Titans could understand. Of course, there was a reason that the man looked different then Merc was now: he was a physical manifestation of Robin's darker side. Merc began to think words and the man began to talk...

Robin jumped high as Merc appeared next to him.

"Robin, old chum. Been a long time since I've been up and about... Say, do y'mind if I tell you who that fake is...?"

Robin shook his head and gaped. Merc must be playing games with him, because Merc would never make it that easy. Robin narrowed his eyes at the virtual Merc.

"... Yes. Because you can't utter a single truthful word..."

Virtual Merc looked hurt. But he quickly changed his mood and temporarily disappeared. He reappeared on the other side of Robin. He began whispering taunts in his ear.

"... You just don't want to accept the fact that I might be RIGHT. I know how it is for you, always look out for your teammates and never yourself. But guess what? Thinking about your teammates isn't exactly the right thing to do here... What if you choose the wrong future self? That friend of yours would wind up dead! Now, if you had any real spine, you'd take one for the team and guess your future self! You might be fooling everyone else, even yourself, but you're not fooling me...

The virtual Merc disappeared and reappeared on the other side of Robin again.

"... You know deep down that the fake future self is yours. Come on! You? RICH? THAT'S RICH! Hahaha... But seriously. Even if your future self IS real, could your mind really take the burden of putting a friend's life on the line?"

Robin had his hands to his ears. Merc wasn't making things easier, as he had anticipated... He didn't want to risk putting his friends' lives in jeopardy, but he didn't want to die himself. He was only human.

"STOP IT! I KNOW this isn't going to be easy, so just SHUT UP!"

Virtual Merc sneered and rolled his eyes at Robin.

"... Alright. I see how it is... Just make your choice and this can all be over... You have a probability of being four fifths wrong, so what's the harm?

Virtual Merc was about to turn around and disappear again when Robin stopped him with a glare. Virtual Merc had another idea...

"... Say, Robin old chum... Y'know what happens when you die in a dream, right? You wake up in reality. But ask me what happens... when you die in reality."

Robin narrowed his eyes at virtual Merc.

"... What?"

Virtual Merc sneered.

"You die, stupid. That's why it's called reality! No such luck with waking up here, old chum. This is reality. And you must choose life or death for your friends. You're not a kid anymore, get over it. Old Brucey's not going to be around to hold your hand forever. This is your first step into adulthood. Live with it. You have no other choice."

Virtual Merc smirked and disappeared. After he did, however, Robin just got a flash of inspiration. Sure, it was risky... But he had to try SOMETHING. He couldn't allow his friends to endanger themselves. Originally, Merc had said that this was a dreamworld, right? Well, Merc just explained what happens when you die in a dream. Robin sprinted away from Ernest Amano to find the tools he needed to try his experiment...

The virtual Merc that had popped up in front of Robin had appeared before Beast Boy and Cyborg now. Merc was satisfied that the two of them were together. This would be fun...

"Oi! Lads! Been discussin' who might be the fake...?

Cyborg primed his sonic cannon and fired at virtual Merc. The blast went right through him. Virtual Merc sneered at Cyborg.

"You'll find that's useless in here, sunshine. Did you know? I just talked to Robin, actually. And you know what he said? He knew for a fact that it was one of YOUR future selves that was the fake. He's willing to risk YOUR lives just so HE can get out of here. How does that make you feel?"

Beast Boy growled at the virtual Merc.

"Robin would NEVER do that! Robin ALWAYS puts his friends before himself! It's always how he's done things!"

Virtual Merc smirked.

"Oh, and is that what he told you, his best friend?"

Beast Boy smirked right back at him.

"As a matter of fact, YES."

Virtual Merc shook his head and turned to Cyborg. He motioned to Beast Boy with one hand and smirked.

"You going to take that from him? Is HE Robin's best friend? Or are you, big guy? Do the world a favor and pick Beast Boy's future self. If you're wrong, Beast Boy's dead. Another vegetarian out of the way. More meat for you and less tofu."

Beast Boy gaped at virtual Merc. He madly waved his hands at Cyborg and shook his head wildly.

"NOOO! Don't dude! I-I never meant to try to get you to kill me, honest!"

Cyborg smirked and turned his head to virtual Merc.

"... Tempting offer... But no thanks. I'd rather make our choice as a GROUP. If anything, if it was up to me and no one else, I'd pick myself. One less mouth to feed and my friends get out of here alive. Nice try at pitting ourselves against each other, though. Whoever you're using to talk for you is really wily. But no matter who you talk to, whether it be Rob, Star, Rae, BB, or even me... You're not going to convince anyone but yourself... It's sad, really. You have no one but yourself to play with. I'd be friends with you if you wanted, if it'd stop you from trying to kill us."

Virtual Merc looked like he was about to cry. It was fake, of course.

"Oh, would you REALLY...? Oh, that would make my day! Whoo hoo! ... Not. Playing with you imbeciles is way more fun anyway. I wonder how Starfire and Raven are holding out...?"

Virtual Merc disappeared holding a thoughtful pose. Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at each other and began running to go look for Starfire, Raven, and Robin...

Raven and Starfire were reunited. They were heading in the direction that they thought the boys would be in. That's when virtual Merc showed up wearing a top hat.

"Hello, fair maidens! I bring news from the front lines," virtual Merc took off his top hat and bowed in reverence of Starfire and Raven. "... Sadly, things are not looking good for you two. It looks like all the boys have decided that it has to be one of you two. Can't say I blame them though. I mean, all women do is stab you in the back. Am I right or am I right? I mean, just look at Terra, Madame Rouge, even Jinx. Terra stabbed your team in the back and only pretended to be a part of the team. Rouge used her shapeshifting abilities to capture Titans. Jinx just abandoned her friends. I can see why the boys wouldn't trust your future selves. But you don't have to take that, right? Now's your chance to save your skins and pick a boy. Waddya say, fair maidens?"

Raven narrowed her eyes at virtual Merc.

"... Call us 'fair maidens' again and I will snap your neck when we get out of here...

Virtual Merc chuckled at her threat. But he allowed her to continue.

"... And you're wrong about Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy. They wouldn't choose one of us, they'd choose themselves out of selflessness. We're not THAT stupid, Merc."

Virtual Merc looked wounded by Raven's words.

"Oooh... Shoot, and I thought it'd be real easy too. ... Not. Things still aren't going to be that easy. Remember the rules. You all have to come down to one decision. You must all agree on who the fake is or you will never get to leave this dreamworld. You're... welcome to choose yourselves... But what's the point if it only gets you to start over? You'd be stuck in here forever! Choose one of the boys while you still can and escape this world forever! You KNOW you want to! Every rational, living, breathing humanoid wants to live! Don't throw your lives away for the boys!"

Raven sighed exasperatedly and pointed at virtual Merc angrily.

"... When I get out of here, you're dead, Merc. Nobody tries to turn our team against each other and gets away with it. ... NO ONE. So STOP spewing your lies! We will ALL come to a rational decision and we will ALL get out of here ALIVE! ARE. WE. CLEAR?"

Virtual Merc held up his hands peaceably and began backing away.

"... Alright, alright. You've made your point, RAVEN. But you know the odds are against you, you only get one shot and that's it. If you and your friends are wrong, a fellow friend will wind up dead! Don't let me try to tell you the score! No, no, no..."

Virtual Merc shook his head in pity of the two girls and disappeared. Raven and Starfire began flying to look for the boys...

Robin had found what he was looking for and was pleased. All he had to do now was show his friends how they were going to get out of here. Virtual Merc reappeared before Robin and shook his head disapprovingly.

"Hey, hey, hey...! WHAT do you think you're DOING...?"

Robin smirked at virtual Merc.

"... Didn't you know that I'd find a way out, Merc 'old chum'? You can't stop me. You'd have to physically manifest yourself into this world in order to stop me. But you CAN'T because that would mean you would lose CONTROL... Sorry, Merc, but you've LOST. When I bust out, I'm coming for you. You'd better believe it..."

Robin walked through virtual Merc and began walking in the direction where he heard voices. Along the way, virtual Merc kept popping up in front of him trying to stop him.

"Hey, hey, hey! Let's not be so HASTY! Let's consider the RISKS shall we...?"

Robin walked through him again.

"... I don't care. You can layer on that sweet tone all you want. Go ahead."

Virtual Merc frowned and appeared in front of Robin again.

"You'll die, Robin. Your friends would be without a leader! We wouldn't want THAT would we?"

Robin walked through him yet again.

"Pity."

Virtual Merc appeared in front of him again.

"Why are you so sure...?"

Robin stopped and jabbed a finger at virtual Merc.

"Because YOU are trying to stop me. Which tells me that this WON'T kill me. Which tells me that THIS is the way out. Which tells me that... you've lost. I'm not going to bother trying to make a risky gamble. Why don't you do that yourself? Entertain yourself. It's worked for you for so long."

Robin walked through him yet again. Virtual Merc smiled devilishly and raised an eyebrow.

"... You'll leave your friends in here with me... I could turn off the dreamworld altogether and it would kill your friends' puny minds!"

Robin turned to virtual Merc annoyed at him and his hollow threats.

"Then DO IT. You've got ME in here too, so why not kill ALL OF US? Huh? Huh?"

Virtual Merc hung his head and turned around to face Robin.

"... Because it wouldn't be as fun. I like to play games, it's all I've got left. You and your friends helped kill off my family one by one... And now I want to do the same to you and your friends. I'd really rather not throw the power switch and kill you all... But if I ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO... I will. I won't hesitate. ... Drop the gun and go make your choice before I get REALLY cross..."

Virtual Merc disappeared from sight. Robin hung his head. What was he supposed to do now? He wanted to escape, to be free of Merc's dreamworld for good... But was there really a way out for all of his friends and himself? ... That's when Robin got the idea. Robin WOULD save them all. Merc wouldn't be able to power off fast enough...

Robin got into a huddle with the rest of the Titans. Making it look like they were all going to make a decision. Cyborg was the first to speak up.

"So, Rob, got any ideas on who the fake is...?"

Robin shook his head and smirked at Cyborg.

"... Do you guys trust me? I will get us all out alive if you trust me. We mustn't make a risky gamble like this. I'd rather not leave alone, but if I absolutely have to...

They all nodded signalling that they trusted him. Robin nodded.

"... Alright. I'm sorry. It's the only way out."

Robin pulled out the gun and shot each and every one of his friends through the heart. Even himself. Virtual Merc appeared before Robin again fuming.

"I THOUGHT I told you..."

Robin gave virtual Merc a weak smile.

"... You don't have any control over me. Even with using me and my 'darker side'. I told you that you lost, Merc. Get over it. It's your first loss. Live with it."

Virtual Merc looked like he was about to explode at Robin, but instead, he disappeared again. This time for good. The Titans all blacked out again...

The Titans all awoke to alarms. Robin knew that Merc had set the self-destruct for the building and was probably long gone now. Raven teleported the Titans through several rooms in the base in search of the Doctor and Agent Lang. They found both of them and managed to locate the TARDIS as well. Raven managed to get the Doctor awake to get the TARDIS to pilot away from the base that was about to explode. They succeeded and the base destroyed itself...

Merc looked down upon the Earth as he left its atmosphere. He grew weary of the planet and didn't want to torture himself any longer. The Titans ruined all the fun. The Doctor was the Ruler's headache now...

Merc put his hand to the largest window of his emergency escape ship that the Elementals had used to get to Earth in the first place. He was looking out into empty space knowing exactly where Azor had killed himself. Merc sighed wearily and turned back to the ship's navigation system. It was flying itself, but it always helps to watch over it in case of accidents. He didn't know where he was going to go, but he knew that anywhere was better than EARTH...

**TBC**


	13. The End of Time Part 1 of 3

**I said I'd give you a second Chapter this week, and I meant it. Now the Finale will commence. No Synopsis for Part 1 is needed, but if you read long enough... the synopsis for both Parts 2 and 3 will be listed at the end of this Chapter. Part 2 will be posted next week and Part 3 the week after. R&R. **

The Earth was zoomed upon from beyond the moon as a Narrator began to speak.

"... It was said that in the final days of planet Earth everyone had bad dreams. Throughout the world every single human being carried on with their everyday lives, forgetting their horrible nightmares of the terrible things to come... Except for one."

The scene had shifted from above the Earth to Robin helping rebuild Jump City with the rest of the Titans, Agent Lang, and the Doctor. To him, the storm was now over. They had bested the Elementals and now there were no more dangers. But he was troubled with the bad dream that he had the night before. It was of the Ruler... _laughing._ It troubled Robin because of a few reasons: one, any time that the Ruler was _happy _registered as _bad _in Robin's book, two, Robin couldn't ascertain _why _the Ruler was laughing, and three, the Ruler was _dead. _No longer living. The Elementals' numerous attacks proved that to Robin. The Elementals were _furious _that they had killed the Ruler! And their savagery proved their point well.

The Doctor wished to hold an emergency meeting that day. The Doctor said it was crucial that they all be there, even Agent Lang. When they had all assembled, the Doctor began talking.

"I called you all here because it is of the utmost importance. ... The Ruler is alive and somewhere on planet Earth.

The Doctor paused to let them all let it sink in and let them give their own reactions, which consisted generally of "That's impossible!" The Doctor held up his two hands to quiet them.

"You may all remember him as the Time Lord who joined the 'Brotherhood of Evil' and the Time Lord who nearly wiped out the universe with an army of Daleks. But the reason I called you all here... Well, okay, basically two reasons... BUT... Basically, to understand why the Ruler does what he does is because of an endless war: the Time War. It changed him. It changed the Time Lords. It changed ME! But the Time War changed all the other Time Lords so much that I was forced to protect the universe with the Time Lock. That War is still going on. It's just... It's like sealed inside a bubble, okay? Nothing can get in or get out. So we are safe from the TIme War.

The Doctor paused to take a deep breath. He raised a finger to make a point.

"HOWEVER. The Ruler escaped at the exact, same moment that I did. We're the only two survivors. We're the last of the Time Lords. I didn't know where he had gone when he escaped, I scoured the UNIVERSE in search of him! Finally, I noticed some activity in the solar system. I pinpointed his location to Earth. I witnessed the destruction of the Crucible, and I saw his escape pod eject itself to Earth. And whilst you lot were dealing with the first of the Elementals, I managed to locate him and confront him. I pleaded with him to call off his Elementals, but he wouldn't. Now the Ruler IS planning something. Something BIG.

The Doctor looked at each and every one of them.

"Which brings me to my second reason to calling you here... We need to find him. We need to find him before he goes through with his plan for the Earth and its people. Now Lang, you've got plenty of men, so you don't need any of the Titans or me to help on your end of the search party. Titans, split up into teams of two, and the Titan that doesn't get into a group will come with me. Any questions? No? Allons-y!"

They all split up. Lang and his police force began their search around Jump City and its surrounding area. Raven and Beast Boy flew as far away as possible to spread the search out as much as possible. Cyborg and Starfire flew in the opposite direction of Raven and Beast Boy and flew away as far as possible. That left Robin and the Doctor. The Doctor had the TARDIS, so it was easier to look around the Earth for the Ruler. Robin turned to the Doctor.

"Doctor... I had a nightmare about the Ruler, and he was laughing... What do you think it means? I've never had a nightmare as nearly bad as this one. I couldn't get away from him and his laughing face no matter how fast I ran. Eventually I just ended up being swallowed by him... It just... didn't seem right..."

The Doctor just shrugged as he began looking around the Earth through the TARDIS'S monitor at the main console.

"I don't know, Robin... Did your dream give any indication of his whereabouts? Anything at all would help."

Robin nodded and proceeded to try to recall his nightmare.

"Well... When the nightmare started... it was just for an instant, but... a room that I had never seen before flashed before my eyes. In it was some... machine. If I had to describe it, I would say that it was some gate. Anyway... Other than that, no.

The Doctor sighed as he continued his search. But then Robin recalled something else.

"Wait... At the VERY beginning... Right before I saw his face... I saw a castle. Er, well... I think it was a castle, maybe it was some sort of mansion. I don't know. Point is, the sign at the front gate, which was really hard to read, read Naismith."

The Doctor's eyes widened.

"... THAT helps. Let me see here... Naismith... Naismith... Aha! Joshua Naismith! Very, very wealthy, and he lives just outside of London at his mansion. And waddya know? It DOES look like a castle... At least parts of it. Off we go!

The Doctor smirked at Robin and he smirked back. The next thing they knew, the TARDIS materialized at the Naismith mansion. The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver and the TARDIS became invisible. The Doctor patted Robin on the shoulder.

"Put it a second out of sync, can't risk letting it sit in plain sight with the possibility of the Ruler lurking about here. C'mon!"

And with that, they ran off further into the Naismith mansion. Avoiding guards with ease.

Inside the mansion, the Ruler finished working on the Immortality Gate. That's what Joshua Naismith had chosen to call it, and it wasn't a very apt name. The Gate was actually alien technology that was capable of healing. Too bad the humans had no idea that it didn't just heal one human. The Ruler smiled inwardly: his plan was genius. He promised the Doctor that he would take care of the human race, and that he would. After he was finished, there would only be... the Ruler race! The Ruler began chuckling which forced Mr. and Ms. Naismith to stare along with all the scientists in the room. The Ruler waved away their stares and stood up to stretch. He turned to Joshua Naismith.

"... Ready and waiting to be used."

The Ruler snapped his fingers and the Gate started up...

**Part 1's done. Now for a future look of what's to come...**

**Part 2: The Ruler succeeds in using the Immortality Gate to transform every human being. There are now over six billion Rulers and the Doctor, Agent Lang, Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy must ready themselves for what may be their final battle. And the drums are getting closer... **

**Part 3: It is the Doctor's final battle. He must stand at arms or lose himself and everything. The threat is no longer just the Ruler. The Titans are restrained and cannot be of assistance. It all comes down to the Doctor, the Ruler... and the End of Time itself. **


	14. The End of Time Part 2 of 3

**End of Time Part 2. R&R.**

By the time the Doctor and Robin had gotten to where the Ruler was, the machine had already powered up. Mr. Naismith turned to the guards that were on the edges of the room.

"At arms!"

The Doctor held up his hands peaceably.

"NONONONONO! Wait! Just-Just don't let HIM near that device!" The Doctor said pointing at the Ruler.

The Ruler snickered at the Doctor.

"Oh, like THAT was ever going to happen!

Just when the guards were about to spring into action, the Ruler elevated himself by shooting electricity out of both his hands and landed smack dab in the middle of the Immortality Gate. He was enveloped in blue energy and he was very giddy. He turned to face the Doctor and cocked his head at him.

"Homeless, was I? Destitute and dying?" The Ruler lifted his arms happily. "Well, look at me now!"

The Doctor turned to all the scientists in the room.

"Deactivate it all of you! Turn the WHOLE thing off!"

All the humans in the room, including Robin, were shaking their heads and blinking. Mr. Naismith was the first to speak up.

"He's... inside my... head!"

All the humans saw the Ruler's face laughing maniacally inside their head. They couldn't see anything else. The Doctor looked horrified. Robin tried feeling around for the Doctor.

"Doctor...!"

The Doctor ran over to Robin.

"What is it...? What can you see?"

"Well, it's him! I can see... I can see him...!"

A scientist had been watching the TV before the Ruler had jumped inside the machine. The Doctor looked on in horror as the reporter seemed to be blinking and shaking her head as well. It was global.

"Something's wrong... It seems to not only go nationwide, but global!"

That was the last thing the reporter said before she continued blinking and shaking her head. The Doctor ran over to some of the machines and tried to turn the Gate off.

"Can't turn it off!" The Doctor said frustratedly.

The Ruler smirked.

"That's because I locked it! Idiot!"

The Doctor turned dismayed at what was going on. He turned to the Ruler and began advancing on him.

"What is it...? Mind control? Transmitting your thoughts inside them, is that it?"

The Ruler shook his head.

"That's way to easy! No, no, no... They're not just going to THINK like me... They're gonna BECOME me!

The Doctor's eyes widened. The Ruler held out his arms again and proclaimed victoriously.

"Aaand... 0!

The Doctor looked around the room and watched as the humans' heads began spinning. Soon enough, the Ruler's face began flickering among all the spinning heads. It took mere seconds for all of them to transform. When the heads stopped spinning, they were all the Ruler. All men, women, and children of the human race were all the Ruler. The Doctor shook his head in sorrow.

"They did all change..."

One by one, all the Rulers in the room spoke to the Doctor.

"Sooo... Which one of us did you want to talk to? Perhaps me?

"Or me?

"Or me?

"Or me?

"... Or us?

The reporter on the TV triumphantly stared at the screen knowing that the Doctor was watching somewhere.

"Breaking news! I'm EVERYONE. And everyone on the world... is me! I'm president of the United States! I'm the Prime Minister! I'm the Queen! EVERYONE.

The Ruler stepped out of the Immortality Gate and smirked at the Doctor. He walked over to his fellow Rulers.

"The human race was always your favorite, Doctor... But now... There is no human race, there is only... the Ruler race! Ahahaha..."

All the Rulers began laughing triumphantly. They didn't care who was listening, they only cared if the Doctor was able to hear all of them. Out in the street, and everywhere else for that matter, Rulers were waving at each other and giving the 'V' for victory sign. Some were even pointing and laughing at each other because they were so happy.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at the original Ruler.

"... I'll eventually defeat you, Ruler. There may be more than 6 BILLION of you now... But hasn't anyone told you that it's quality, not quantity? I am giving you one chance to surrender... Only. One."

The Ruler just continued laughing. He was just as smart as the Doctor, if not smarter. And there was 6 BILLION of him now. He was going to rub it in the Doctor's face as much as he could...

Elsewhere...

Agent Lang had his hands full. All of his Officers had all transformed into the Ruler. Agent Lang didn't know why he hadn't turned into a Ruler, but he didn't really find himself caring and just found himself running away from all of HIS Officers. The trouble was, he had had them all spread out. Sure, all of them were all laughing, pointing, and giving each other 'V' for Victory signs... but they still tried to catch Agent Lang nonetheless. Despite their efforts, Agent Lang found he could still elude them. He headed to the Titans Tower. It had been the first thing rebuilt, and he could hide there...

Beast Boy and Raven had already managed to get to the Tower by the time Agent Lang had gotten there. Raven had sensed that something was wrong and decided against flying too far away from Jump City. At the first sight of Rulers, they stealthily headed back to the Tower and hid there quietly. Agent Lang growled at them.

"Is there NOTHING we can do? The Ruler has us on the run! How the HECK did he make every human being, save ME, turn into HIM?"

Beast Boy shrugged. Raven sighed.

"... It doesn't matter how he did it... What matters is... Can we turn them BACK? Oh, and the only reason you're not a Ruler right now is that you have wolf DNA in you. It shields you from the effects of... whatever the Ruler did to make everyone into him. I don't quite know HOW we're going to fight back yet. But we will, rest assured. Still, this isn't a safe place to hide... If the Ruler has everyone on Earth, then that means that he possesses every missile, bomb, and any deadly weapon at his disposal. That means this Tower is one big target for him. We need to get out of here and fly away in the T-Ship. My recommendation is flying into space... No missile or weapon can reach us out there. We make a plan, and we go with it. We can't afford to hurt the humans, so we may take a while..."

Agent Lang nodded and cringed. Beast Boy groaned.

Starfire was the last to arrive at the Tower, and she brought the Doctor with her. The Doctor grinned as he saw there was at least 5 of them including himself.

"Glad to see that Starfire and I weren't the only survivors! Now... Do we have a more secure location where we could strategize? Because this is-"

Raven cut him off.

"... One big target. We KNOW. And there's bound to be other survivors... Like Wildebeest... Cinderblock... Overload..."

The Doctor stopped her before she gave more examples.

"Yes, yes... Of COURSE there are other survivors, but we're the only ones who know who we're up against here! Well, at least I do. You guys didn't fight him too much. And the Ruler is persistent. He won't rest until we're all dead. So, do we have a more secure location? A safe haven?"

Raven nodded.

"We... were going to use the T-Ship to go into space and stay out there for awhile... No missiles or bombs can reach us there... And we can always cloak the T-Ship so that it can't be discovered. ... Does that sound okay...?"

The Doctor nodded.

"... Brilliant! Let's go now... Things can't get much worse! Er... Well, okay... Maybe they can... But! We need to stay positive! Alon-z!"

Elsewhere...

The Ruler had contacted all of the new Rulers and had a plan. The Ruler grinned.

"Alright everyone... Concentrate... Find the signal..."

The Rulers soon began thinking as one. And soon... all those individual drum beats in their heads... formed one. The drums were getting closer...

**TBC**


	15. The End of Time Part 3 of 3

**And here is the End of Time Part 3! This will be my last chapter in writing for the Teen Titans section on this site... Believe me, I've had some good times writing for Teen Titans. But there are times when you just gotta move on, and this is one of those times... I apologize for focusing more on the OCs than on the Titans themselves, but as time moved on it became clearer and clearer to me that I lost my drive for writing for this section. Who knows? Some day I may come back to write one more one-shot. Maybe. But I really doubt it. I will accept any flames that come my way. After all, I just haven't been inspired to write for Teen Titans for the past few weeks. I tried to be inspired, and this 3-part finale is what came of it. I've no excuses, maybe it would have been better to just put this fic on hiatus. Who knows? Well anyway, thanks to all of those who stuck to the end. **

The T-Ship managed to break away from Earth's atmosphere. The Doctor spoke to the team through the intercom.

"Does this thing have a cloaking device of any kind? Because the Ruler has every missile on Earth ready to fire at us... We're sitting ducks if we don't have one..."

Raven replied.

"No, but we can turn off all the power. We'll still have oxygen for at least half an hour, but then we have to turn the Ship back on."

The Doctor groaned and replied.

"All right, we'll do that. But... how are we going to communicate with each other without the intercom?"

Agent Lang got into the conversation.

"Well, we all got a communicator, right? I should be able to find your frequency even though mine's not a Titan communicator..."

The Doctor nodded and spoke to all the Titans and Agent Lang.

"All right, are there any objections to turning the power off...?

No one said a word.

"... 'kay. I'm going to turn the power off now... Even if everything's powered down, stay absolutely silent. There's no telling if the Ruler can find us or not even if the power's off."

The ship powered down and everything was absolutely silent...

The Rulers now had managed to sync the beats in their heads into one. The original Ruler was frowning and pacing.

"Somebody could only have designed this... But who...?"

A Ruler ran into the room and saluted the original.

"Sir! We just lost sight of the Titans! They were just outside the Earth's atmosphere in some... ship... and then they were gone! What do we do, sir?"

The original Ruler turned to the Ruler addressing him.

"... Well, isn't that obvious? Stop thinking about them! They can do NOTHING. Nothing AT ALL. Right now I'm trying to figure out what this drumbeat is all about, and you interrupt me with your concerns?"

The Ruler took a step back and shook his head.

"But they have the Doctor! He would be able to find a way to defeat all of us!"

The original laughed.

"Oh, please. He wouldn't dare attack us because that would mean harming the 'innocent' human race. Now... return to your post and await further orders. There is nothing to worry about."

The Ruler saluted the original and ran back to his post...

The Doctor was pondering what to do next. He had absolutely NO PLAN. There were over 6 billion Rulers on the planet below, and no way of stopping them that he could think of. Raven began talking to him through the communicator that he had taken from Robin when he became the Ruler.

"So... Mind telling me the story behind this guy...? He obviously isn't 'normal' to say the least. What could drive him to do all of this...? He isn't your deranged brother, is he...?"

The Doctor laughed and responded.

"You watch too much TV. No. We're two completely different Time Lords that have absolutely nothing in common at all. Well, admittedly, he IS a good strategist. Well, so am I. So I guess there's a similarity there...? Point is, we both come from the planet Gallifrey, and we both took part in the legendary Time War."

"There you go again, mentioning the 'Time War'. What the heck happened? You said that it made you and the Ruler the last of the Time Lords and that it was 'Time Locked'. Would you be kind enough to enlighten me as to how a War on that scale isn't in the record books? I never heard anything about it on Azarath."

The Doctor's eyes widened.

"Oh...? You come from Azarath...? Azarath was one of the few planets to be affected by the Time War. Admittedly, there were other alien species that escaped before the Time Lock was set in place. For instance, the Daleks and Trigon. The Time War was the biggest war of all Time. Some planets were destroyed as a result, like Gallifrey, Skaro, and your planet Azarath. It was the final battle between my people. the Time Lords, and the Daleks, but other races were allowed to participate because of their ability to travel in time. It was Time Locked because the War was so dangerous to the universe and Time itself. Everyone died, Raven. There were survivors, but there were SO MANY. It was SO BIG.

The Doctor paused. Then he continued.

"People assume that Time is a strict progression of cause and effect, but ACTUALLY it's more like a big ball of... wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey... stuff. Time is SO complicated. At least, it is to me. But I'm not about to stop travelling in the TARDIS and stop saving countless civilizations from being destroyed. Somehow, I WILL save the human race and the Earth. You can trust me on this, I've done it million times over."

Raven didn't reply until the Doctor was done talking.

"Okaaay... But what about the Ruler? You said that the Time War had changed him..."

The Doctor blinked and nodded.

"Yes... We actually used to be great friends, but then he created the Daleks and started the Time War. He cared for the Time Lords, but something went wrong somewhere along the line... The Daleks were created and they attempted to exterminate the Time Lords. The Ruler didn't know which side to choose in the War, but he ended up siding with the Daleks. They were nearly unstoppable, they almost won... I was the only one that could end it. I 'exterminated' everyone, and yet the Ruler managed to escape. It's my fault that he's like this. I admit it. However, had I not tried to kill him, the Time War would've ended differently. He wasn't the only problem."

Suddenly, what seemed like a falling star just materialized and began falling down to Earth. The Doctor tried his best to make out what it was, but it was too far away to see...

The Ruler, the original one, looked up at the ceiling. The drums had just gotten louder. The Ruler that had taken Robin's place looked up at the ceiling.

"...! That sound... it's coming from above...!

The original Ruler shook his head and ran outside.

"It's coming from the sky!

All the Rulers that were at the Naismith mansion ran outside and looked up: a star was falling fairly close to the mansion. The original turned to the Rulers that had taken the place of the guards. He pointed in the direction of the star and yelled at them.

"Get out there and FIND IT!"

At the crater...

Three vans pulled up, Rulers began to swarm around the crater looking around for whatever fell. One finally found it. He lifted his visor to take a look, then his eyes widened. He used his communicator to contact the original.

"... It's a diamond, sir. Oh... the most impossible diamond. It's a white point star! The white kind!"

The original Ruler tilted his head upward, grinned, and then broke out into laughter...

Twenty five minutes passed. The Doctor would have to turn on the Ship soon and head back down to Earth, yet he had no plan! The Rulers had made no attempt to find them, which the Doctor was thankful for, and yet... he was angry that he could not conjure up a plan to save them all!

The Doctor was about to scream when the Ruler's voice could be heard in his communicator.

"... A star fell from the sky. The star was a diamond. And the diamond was a White Point Star. Do you know which kind it was...?

When the Ruler got no reply from the Doctor, he continued.

"... the White kind. You and I both know that the White kind of White Point Stars were wiped out when Gallifrey was destroyed by the Moment, so why is it here...? The Star is the cause for the drumbeat in my head. I could increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching, Doctor... This should be... spectacular!"

The Doctor began sweating. If the Ruler were to increase the signal... then... the Time Lords... He madly began turning the power back on. All the Titans were confused and began asking questions. Raven addressed the Doctor through the intercom.

"Doctor, we had five more minutes. Do you have a plan...?"

The Doctor continued turning everything on in the Ship and didn't say a word. When everything was turned on, he made sure that he could be the only one flying the ship.

"No time to explain! We need to return to Earth NOW."

Beast Boy was confused.

"WHAAAT? BUT-BUT-BUT CAN'T THE RULER...?"

The Doctor grinned at Beast Boy's uneasiness.

"This Ship is more than capable with what we're about to do... We're about to fight off the entire planet...!"

The Doctor pushed on the gas and they were entering the atmosphere than they were when leaving it. Starfire questioned the Doctor.

"But... Every missile on the planet will be ready to fire, yes? How will we...?"

The Doctor laughed and spoke through the intercom to everyone.

"Everyone! Lasers!"

Beast Boy was still confused.

"What for? We'll be dead in a matter of-"

The Doctor cut him off.

"BECAUSE OF THE MISSILES! When I say we're going to fight off the entire planet, I meant it. He can fire all he wants at us, but with me at the wheel and everyone else at the lasers, we should be fine!"

The Rulers became aware of the T-Ship returning to Earth. The Rulers in charge of the United States's missile defenses began priming the missiles.

"Launching in... 3... 2... 1...!"

They all said in unison as the missiles fired. Agent Lang counted the number of projectiles coming their way. He alerted the Doctor through the intercom.

"We've got 16 of them coming at us! Another 16!"

The Doctor yelled at them all as the missiles were getting closer.

"What'd I SAY? LASERS!"

The Titans all began firing and hitting missiles with the lasers. Missiles that were not hit missed the T-Ship, but were heat-seekers. The Titans and Agent Lang eventually neutralized them, however. Raven began talking to the Doctor again.

"Where are we headed?"

The Doctor sighed.

"England! The Naismith Mansion!"

The Rulers alerted the original one.

"He's headed straight for you!"

The original held out his arms.

"Too late! They are coming!"

The Ruler had connected the White Point Star to the Immortality Gate, so it acted as a gateway back home for the Time Lords. A bright, white light now filled the room as the gateway was beginning to be used. Some Time Lords could be seen, but they were a bit hard to make out because they were still coming into focus...

The Doctor addressed Agent Lang and Raven.

"Agent Lang! I cannot believe I am saying this... But I will need your gun! Raven, if you'd please get it for me!"

Raven used her powers to get Lang's gun to the Doctor. Agent Lang was skeptical.

"What are you going to do? Shoot the Ruler? That's definitely not you, and you KNOW IT!"

The Doctor didn't say anything as they got closer to the mansion. Instead of landing when they reached their destination, the Doctor jumped out of the T-Ship and crashed through the glass ceiling of the Naismith mansion. He clutched Lang's gun and aimed it upward, but found himself aiming at five Time Lords, one of them being the President. The Doctor groaned as he saw that he was too late. He dropped the gun and tried to get himself up, but he found that crashing through the glass ceiling really did a number on his body. The bright, white light was still there behind the Time Lords, they were still coming through...

The President stepped forward acknowledging the Doctor and the Ruler. The other Rulers in the room looked on in awe.

"... My Lord Doctor... Lord Ruler... We are gathered for the End."

The President smirked and the Doctor looked on horrified.

Above them, the Titans were trying to regain control of the T-Ship. Raven succeeded and began landing it. Beast Boy was scared.

"HUH? B-But... There are Rulers out there!"

Raven sternly replied.

"We are not leaving the Doctor on his own... He needs us just as much as we need him!"

Nobody else objected as they landed...

The Doctor finally managed to get up.

"Oh... Listen to me... Y-You c-can't..."

The President was very arrogant.

"It is a most fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most INFAMOUS CHILD!"

The Doctor shook his head.

"Oh... He's not saving you! Don't you realize what he's doing?"

The original Ruler shushed the Doctor.

"Hey! No! Hey! That's mine! Hush! Look around you!" The Ruler motioned to everyone that was in the room besides himself and the Doctor. The Ruler that replaced Robin waved. "I've transplanted myself into every single human being! Everyone sir, such a pitiful species... But now I can transplant myself into every single Time Lord!

The Ruler took this chance to rub it in the President's face.

"Oh YES! Mr. President Sir! Standing there all noble and resplendent! And decrepit! Think how much better you're gonna look... AS ME!

The Ruler pointed at himself proudly. The President only held up his metal-gloved hand and activated the glove. It made all the Rulers turn back into normal humans again. The Ruler was FURIOUS.

"NO NO! STOP IT! NO! NO! DON'T!"

When all the humans were normal again, the President addressed the humans.

"... On your knees, mankind..."

All the humans in the room got on their knees. The Doctor looked on in amazement, but the Ruler shook his head still proud of himself.

"Well, fine! That's good! Because YOU said salvation! I STILL saved you, don't forget that!"

A big rumbling could be heard from outside above all their heads. The President looked up.

"The approach begins!"

The Ruler turned to the Doctor.

"The approach of WHAT?"

The Doctor shook his head and looked the Ruler straight in the eyes.

"... Something is returning... Don't you ever LISTEN? THAT was the Prophecy, not someone, SOMETHING!"

The Ruler raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

The Doctor was getting angrier.

"They're not just bringing back the species... It's Gallifrey! Right here! Right now!"

The Titans looked up and saw a huge orange sphere appearing right in front of the Earth's view of the sun. It was getting closer and closer to becoming real...

The Earth was shaking as Gallifrey was simply too close to it. The humans began running around scared in the mansion. The Ruler turned back to the Time Lords and smiled.

"I did this! I get the credit! I'm on your side!

The Ruler looked at the President pleadingly, but the President only smirked at him knowing something that the Ruler didn't. The Ruler looked at the Doctor again.

"But... This is... This is fantastic isn't it? The Time Lords restored!"

The Doctor shook his head and glared at the Ruler, he pitied him.

"... You weren't there. In the final days of the War. You never saw what was born. If you broke the Time Lock, then EVERYTHING'S coming through, not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties... The Nightmare Child! The Would've Been King and His Army of Meanwhiles and Never Weres! The War turned into HELL! And that's what you opened, right above the Earth... HELL is descending!"

The Ruler shook his head and grinned.

"MY kind of world!"

The Doctor shook his head. He began raising his voice.

"But LISTEN! BECAUSE EVEN THE TIME LORDS CAN'T SURVIVE _THAT_!"

The President cut into the conversation.

"We will initiate the Final Sanction! The End of Time will come! At MY hand! The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex APART!"

The Ruler looked at the President like he was crazy.

"But that's SUICIDE!"

The President raised his arms.

"We... will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies. Free of Time... and cause and effect... as creation itself SEIZES to be!"

The Doctor glared at the Ruler more.

"... You see now? That's what they were planning in the final days of the War. ... I HAD to stop them."

The Ruler glanced at the Doctor, then back at the Time Lords.

"Then... Take me with you, Lord President! Let me ascend! Into GLORY!"

The Ruler raised his arms hopefully, but the Lord President shook his head and spoke sternly.

"... You are diseased. Be it a disease of our own making... No more.

The President raised his glove to disintegrate the Ruler, but the Doctor aimed Lang's gun at the President. The President lowered his metal-gloved hand and spoke calmly.

"... Choose your enemy well. We are many. The Ruler is but one."

The Ruler almost laughed.

"But he's the PRESIDENT! Kill him and GALLIFREY could be yours!"

The Doctor turned around and aimed the gun at the Ruler. The Ruler pointed at the President.

"No, no, no! He's to blame, NOT ME!" The Ruler paused and dropped his arms. He rolled his eyes thinking of why the Doctor would try and shoot him. "... Oh. I get it. Kill me, the link gets broken... and... they go back.

He waited for the Doctor to shoot, but he seemed to be hesitating. The Ruler smirked.

"... You never would you coward. Go on. Do it!

The Doctor turned back around and aimed at the President. The Ruler smirked triumphantly.

"Exactly! HE'S the link! KILL HIM!"

The President sighed wearily.

"... The final act of your life... is murder. But which one of us?"

The Doctor continued aiming, but glanced behind the President. It was a woman that was right behind the President, and he knew her. He watched as she stared back at him and then looked to the side. That gave the Doctor an idea. The woman behind the President gave a small nod as the Doctor knew what to do now.

The Doctor turned back around and aimed at the Ruler. It seemed that the Doctor had reached a decision, and the Ruler wasn't happy about it, but he came to realize that the Doctor DID acknowledge him as a mortal enemy despite their past. He didn't even wince for what was to come, he was ready to take the bullet, but the Doctor seemed to have other ideas. The Doctor looked at the Ruler seriously and spoke very seriously to him.

"... Get out of the way.

The Ruler looked at what was behind him out of the corner of his right eye. He grinned and jumped out of the way. The Doctor shot the machine that connected the White Point Star to the Immortality Gate. The Doctor stepped back from the roaring flames and yelled at the President.

"Back into the Time War, Rassilon! Back into HELL!"

The President was fuming. He stared at the Doctor with much contempt, he had doomed his own kind. Outside, Gallifrey started to fade from view.

"GALLIFREY FAAALLING! GALLIFREY FAAAAAAAAAALL..."

Rassilon pointed his metal-gloved hand at the Doctor.

"You'll die with me, Doctor!"

The Doctor nodded.

"... I know."

The glove started to glow, and the Doctor was ready to die. The Ruler stood up right behind him and spoke seriously as he got his electricity ready.

"... Get out of the way.

The Doctor whipped around and his eyes widened. He leaped out of the way just as the Ruler drew his hand back to fire his electricity. Rassilon was hit directly in the chest with the Ruler's attack. Rassilon could not aim at the Doctor anymore, and the glove stopped glowing. The Ruler yelled angrily at Rassilon.

"You did this to me! All of my life!

The Ruler unleashed a second electrical attack on Rassilon. Rassilon took a step back surprised by the Ruler's forcefulness.

"YOU MADE ME! ONE!

The Ruler fired one electrical attack at Rassilon forcing him back more.

"TWO!

He fired another one at Rassilon who was still reeling back.

"THREE!

The third attack made Rassilon fall down.

"FOUR!"

Rassilon tried to shield himself with his metal glove, and all the Time Lords, save for the Doctor began to fade. Even the Ruler was fading because he was too close to the Gate. The Doctor shielded his eyes from the light that just got brighter and brighter. Outside, Gallifrey completely faded from view and the sun was shining again. Raven gave a small smile, the Doctor had saved them all...

When the Doctor opened his eyes again, the Immortality Gate was completely shut down and the Time Lords and the Ruler were all gone. He looked around the room: there was glass everywhere from his fall and he was battered, bruised, and bleeding, but he and all the humans had survived. The Doctor let out a laugh.

"... I'm alive... I was... I'm still ALIVE!"

The Doctor continued to laugh to himself, but then Robin knocked four times. The Doctor's eyes widened and he realized where Robin was: he was in one of the two glass boxes that possessed the controls that amplified the signal for the White Point Star. In order for the Ruler to succeed in getting the Time Lords back, he had to set the powerlines to maximum. And those glass boxes were where the excess radiation got vented into...

The Doctor stood up and looked at Robin. Robin waved.

"Hey! When did I get stuck inside here? Doctor? But it looks like the Ruler's gone now, at least!"

Robin said excitedly. The Doctor gave him a small smile.

"... Yeah... He is... The Ruler... transplanted himself into every single human being. You weren't in control of your body for a few hours. The Ruler used you to get the Time Lords back."

Robin didn't really understand, but the Doctor was a Time Lord, right? So that meant he wasn't alone anymore!

"That's GREAT, Doctor! Where are they? Oh, and could you let me out? The door seems to be locked!"

The Doctor smiled sadly at Robin. He walked over to the glass box.

"... They were sent back into the Time War because they were simply too evil. But to think... The Ruler wanted to sacrifice YOU for the Time Lords' return... Probably because it would've hurt me the most..."

Robin cocked an eyebrow.

"Sacrifice...? What do you mean?"

The machine began making some noise indicating that the radiation was going to spill into the glass box soon. The Doctor sighed and shook his head.

"... The Ruler... Kept the Nuclear Vault running. And the excess radiation gets filtered in there... That glass is strong enough to hold in the radiation... five hundred thousand rads'll flood that thing."

Robin became worried.

"Well, ya better let me out then!"

The Doctor gave him a sorrowful look.

"... Except it's gone critical. One touch to the controls to open the door and it floods," The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver. "... Even this would set it off."

Robin hung his head.

"... I'm sorry. Look, just leave me."

The Doctor shook his head.

"... I can't. You have a future, you may be an average human being... but that's what makes you SO IMPORTANT! If I were to let you die here even when you have a future, it would create a paradox. I'm a Time Lord, I can absorb all that excess radiation."

Robin's eyes widened and he almost yelled at the Doctor horrified.

"No! I can't let that happen to you, Doctor! It would kill you stone dead!"

The Doctor shook his head and walked a little ways away.

"... I always used to think that I, a Time Lord, deserved to be able to live for as long as I could. Why? I was the last of my kind, I didn't want the Time Lords to be extinct. And yet, I still have a little life left in me. Robin... I am 907 years old... I've had my time. And I can do so much more... Yet I will NOT stand by and watch you die. If the Ruler, who was so self-obsessed, could sacrifice himself for ME... Then I can sacrifice myself for YOU..."

The Doctor walked over to the glass box that was beside Robin's. Robin looked at the Doctor pleadingly.

"No, please don't! PLEASE!"

The Doctor looked at Robin and grinned.

"Richard... It would be my honor."

"...!"

Robin couldn't believe that the Doctor knew his real name. The Doctor stepped into the glass box.

"Better be quick!"

He pushed the button that opened Robin's box and Robin stepped out. He watched in amazement as the air in the Doctor's box glowed red. The Doctor kneeled in pain. After a few seconds, it was over. Robin couldn't believe what had happened and watched the Doctor's body which wasn't moving. After a few more seconds, the hand began moving. Robin couldn't believe his eyes!

"DOCTOR?"

The Doctor got up and didn't sound too thrilled.

"... Hi," The Doctor pushed the door open and rolled his eyes. "Oh... NOW it opens, yes..."

Robin rubbed his eyes to be sure he was seeing things clearly.

"YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?"

The Doctor nodded.

"... I absorbed it all. The whole things kaput."

Robin noticed the Doctor's scars on his face at last.

"Well, you got some battle scars there. Heh..."

The Doctor put his hands to his face and soothingly rubbed his face. As he brought his hands down again, the scars were miraculously gone. Robin's eyes widened.

"Your face! HOW did you do that?"

The Doctor sorrowfully stared at Robin.

"... It's started."

The Doctor ignored Robin's excited outbursts and walked out of the mansion with Robin right behind him. Everyone else was outside already. Raven saw the Doctor and flew over. Starfire saw Robin and tackled him instead of just flying over to him. Raven looked the Doctor square in the eyes.

"So... How did it go? Where's the Ruler?"

The Doctor nodded.

"... Everything went okay... The mansion's free to be investigated and the Ruler was sent back into the Time War.

Raven looked at the Doctor quizzically.

"... Long story. Really rather not think of these events again."

Raven sighed, she gave up on trying to get an answer out of him.

"Well... Where to now? The Earth is safe. And it looks like all of the humans are back to normal."

The Doctor nodded.

"Yep, they are... I don't know where I'm going next, frankly. Just travel about some more and save more people and places. It's no big deal really..."

Raven noticed the Doctor's sorrow in his voice.

"... Something happened in there. You don't need to tell me about it, but I would just like to know if you'll be okay."

The Doctor nodded and sounded grateful.

"Yeah... I'll be fine. Agent Lang!

The Doctor walked over to Agent Lang and handed him his gun.

"This belongs to you. So... What now, hm? How're you going to get home?"

Agent Lang laughed.

"Heh, I'll get back to Jump City b just taking a few flights... No big deal, I'm not poor."

The Doctor looked thoughtful.

"No... But why not give the Titans a chance to give you a lift back home? Cyborg has yet to be found in some part of the world, so there's an empty seat yet."

Agent Lang laughed again.

"Fine! I will... But what about you, huh? Where exactly do you live? Your little blue box?"

The Doctor grinned.

"Yep, pretty much... See you around, Agent Lang..."

Agent Lang waved as the Doctor began heading back to the TARDIS which was still hidden.

"See ya, Doc!"

The Doctor winced at being called that, but let that pass. He used his sonic screwdriver to make the TARDIS appear and unlocked the door with the key. Robin and Starfire walked over to him. Robin turned to Starfire.

"Get back to the T-Ship, I'll catch up."

Starfire nodded and turned to the Doctor.

"Farewell, Doctor! Thank you for saving our planet!"

The Doctor smiled at her as she flew back to the T-Ship. The Doctor looked at Robin expectantly.

"I'm sorry that you had to do that. Are you going to be okay? Will your body be able to heal after absorbing all that radiation?"

The Doctor almost laughed.

"My body's already doing it. I thought you knew that a Time Lord could heal with regeneration? I mean, you've seen the Ruler in a few different forms... So I thought you'd be used to the regeneration procedure by now."

Robin shook his head.

"I never saw him do it. Mind if I watch you do it?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"... I'm sorry. But I'll be leaving for another planet now and I'll probably regenerate along the way..."

Robin raised an eyebrow.

"But you said it yourself that you'd let me see you do it."

The Doctor looked at Robin with a raised eyebrow.

"I said that...? When?"

Robin sighed.

"When I was just heading out for Jump City, I found you. You were ill and I offered to help you find a hospital but you said you'd be fine. Don't tell me you've forgotten! You PROMISED!"

The Doctor laughed realizing what had happened.

"Oh! Sorry, things don't always happen to me in the right order. See, when you saw me when you were younger, I was probably almost ready to regenerate. The TARDIS probably took control and brought me down back to Earth so it wouldn't crash when I regenerated. Regeneration can look very pretty, but it can also be very dangerous to be around when it actually happens. Why it would take me to the past, I don't know. I'm sorry, but I can't show you regeneration because you saw me in your past. I have to go now. Goodbye, Robin."

Robin sadly waved and watched the Doctor enter the TARDIS and close the door behind him. The TARDIS dematerialized...

As Robin predicted, the TARDIS flew the Doctor to the past. It materialized in a dark alley. The Doctor got out weakly, it was nearly time. There was snow on the ground, so it was winter. The city looked beautiful with all of its lights shining at night. The Doctor looked about and saw nobody in the street. He walked out into the empty street and collapsed. The pain was unbearable to him. A car was coming the Doctor's way and because he was in the middle of the street, he would be killed. He tried to get up, but couldn't. That's when Robin showed up to help him up and out of the street. The car drove past without even realizing it was going to hit a pedestrian.

Robin looked at the Doctor worriedly.

"Are you all right? You shouldn't try to cross the road in your condition, mister!"

The Doctor gave a small smile despite being in pain.

"R-Robin... P-Please... Get me back to my blue box... I was stupid to leave it..."

Robin looked at him oddly, but then saw the blue box that the strange man spoke of in the alley that they were in.

"A-Are you sure? You look like you need medical attention!"

The Doctor groaned.

"I'll be fine! I can regenerate! Look. In your future, you will meet me again, but I will not know you. Just... Just act like you don't know me, okay? You hardly do now. Just help me to my blue box. Please."

Robin found this man to be truly bizarre, but helped him anyway. The Doctor smiled at him.

"... Thank you. Here.

The Doctor handed Robin his communicator from his future.

"I forgot to give this back to you, but I don't think I was supposed to. It's a little battered, but have one of your future friends analyze it and create new ones. You'll be fine, you have a bright future ahead of you. ... I promise you'll get to see me regenerate one day. Really."

Robin took the communicator hesitantly and tried to use it. The Robin from the future answered.

"Hello? Who's there? Doctor? Is that... you...?"

Static could be heard. Although, Robin could hear a cute girl trying to tell the Doctor "Hello!". Then nothing. By the time Robin looked up again, the TARDIS and the Doctor were both gone...

The Doctor walked around the controls of the TARDIS. It was his last trip as this version of himself. He lifted his right hand to see it glowing. He lifted his left hand, it was glowing too. The Doctor was near tears.

"I... I don't want to go."

Soon his head was glowing too. Next, it seemed flames were shooting out of his hands and head. Then... he was a new man.

**End**


End file.
